Return of Chaos
by lady-warrioress
Summary: When a big storm stikes the Master Emerald Tikal is revived and the Emerald vanishes. Will she and Knuckles find all the pieces before it is too late? knuxtikal no flames please FINISHED
1. prologue

Prologue

The sky darkened with thick storm clouds. The moon vanished and the clouds got closer and more together. Lightning zig zagged across the sky and thunder rumbled. The wind began to blow in great gusts and a light rain was falling. A little bit away in the direct path of the oncoming storm stood a crumbling shrine. The shrine housed a giant green stone which reflected the bolts of lightning off it's smooth surface.

The Master Emerald.

It seemed like any other storm but this one was different and would have very different results. The results would create a lot of trouble for the two last echidnas of Angel Island. The guardian had taken cover for now. Which was something he shouldn't do.

The storm got closer and the strong wind began to wip small pieces of the building around. Rain began to fall in sheets and lightning and thunder split the sky in great flashes and roaring. The rain soaked the giant stone and created giant puddles around it. Most of the water flowed down the stairs, creating small waterfalls.

The sky grew darker and the rain fell harder with very second and soon the sky was totally black.

There was a silence.

Then all of a sudden a huge lightning bolt tore across the sky and struck the stone with precise aim. The stone glowed with an unearthly light as the electricity tore through it's core. This lasted for a few minutes then the light as well as the power vanished. The guardian did not see this happen and was totally unaware of it, but he would find out soon enough in time.

For some reason the stone still glowed and a strange voice vibrated through it. Something awakened within the stone. A spirit. A presence. Something that had been sleeping for many years. It swirled like a confused fish, like it was trying to get it's bearings. Trying to get out. Trying to figure out where it was. Then it stopped as if worn out. It slowly began to take on a form.

The beginning of a new adventure had begun.

_Authors note: Sorry this was so short. I'm trying something new. I've never written a fan fic like this so you'll have to tolerate me._

_Spoiler: This will be my first Tikal fan fic._

_Please R&R_


	2. the presense

Chapter 1

The morning after the storm Knuckles the echidna and appointed guardian of the Master Emerald sat on the staircase of the shrine where the Emerald sat.

He was thinking. He wasn't thinking about one particular thing, though. He was just letting his thoughts go at random. Mostly though he thought about _her._

Though he hadn't met her for very long he could still remember her clearly and felt as if he'd known her for a long time. But he had no way of doing that since they weren't even related. He was thinking about a pretty little echidna girl who had been the princess of the race a long time ago in the Ancient Past.

He was thinking about Tikal.

_I wish I could see her again,_ he thought, standing up and walking up to the Master Emerald, _but I can't for she is forever trapped in here._

He absently set his hand on the green stone like he often did and began to caress the gem's smooth surface._ If only I could see her again_, he thought closing his eyes and resting his head on the stone, _if only._

Suddenly a strange feeling came over him. He felt a presence.

The male echidna looked around but saw no one. What in the world? he thought.

The presence seemed stronger._ Someone is close by_, he thought his hand dropping from the stone, _I wonder who it is._

But the instant he took a step down the stairs, the presence vanished as if it had never been there.

_What was that?_ he thought. The red echidna looked around again, but still no one could be seen. _Then where did that presence I felt come from?_

Knuckles walked down that stairs and looked around once more. Still nothing. Still no one.

He decided to check behind it and walked around to the other side. Nobody there either.

_What is going on?_ he thought annoyed,_ I could have sworn somebody-----_

Someone put their hand on his shoulder.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" he screamed jumping ten feet in the air. He landed on his back.

"Sorry, Knuckles, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you hurt?" said a softish male voice.

Knuckles opened his eyes. Espio the chameleon stood over him.

"So it was you," the echidna said sitting up.

Espio looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"You were the person sneaking around," Knuckles replied, not noticing how clueless the chameleon looked.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Knuckles? I just got here."

Knuckles stared at him in disbelief. "But it had to be you. No one else is around."

"Who? What? I still don't know what you're talking about."

Knuckles decided he'd better explain. He stood up. "We'll talk as we walk," he said.

"Okay," Espio agreed.

As the two friends walked around to the front of the shrine, Knuckles explained about having felt a strong presence near the Master Emerald. The whole time he talked Espio just listened, looking thoughtful.

He waited until the echidna was done before he said, "Show me where you felt this presence."

Knuckles led him to the top of the stairs where the Master Emerald rested. "Right there," the echidna said, pointing at a spot in the front, "I put my hand right there like I always do and I felt a presence."

Espio said nothing. He put his hand on the Emerald. For a moment his face was blank, held no expression, then it began to change. It became startled, then confused, then thoughtful. "I'm sensing something," he said, "a sort of presence."

"See, I told you," Knuckles said.

"Someone's feelings. Someone's heart," Espio finished, without changing the emotion in his voice.

Knuckles stared at him. "What? What do you mean?"

Espio looked up at his friend, his expression telling nothing. "There's something here, somewhere," the chameleon answered, "who ever it is or might be must be close by now. Why don't we look?"

Knuckles agreed that was a good idea but he had a feeling they wouldn't find anything. Of course he didn't tell Espio what he thought.

The two walked down the stairs again. They began to search the area. There weren't very many places to hide around the shrine, but they looked everywhere anyway.

As they searched the wind began to pick up and dark clouds began rolling in.

"Great, another storm," Knuckles said looking at the sky.

"We'd better take shelter," Espio said.

The two headed under a small clump of trees. The moment they sat down the sky opened up. It seemed to be raining even harder than it had the night before and Knuckles noticed. So did Espio but he knew, like all summer storms, the next would always seem worse than the one before.

They sat in silence, watching the rain and listening to the thunder as the storm's center got closer.

Then Espio finally broke the silence. "Well, I guess that's that."

Knuckles looked at his friend. "What?" he asked.

"I don't think we'll be able to find whoever it was we sensed now," the chameleon replied.

"Why?"

"This rain is keeping us from searching," Espio explained, "it's also probably giving whoever it was a chance to get away."

Knuckles didn't say anything to that. He knew his friend was right.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash. They looked up at the stormy dark sky, just in time to see a huge lightning bolt cut the air. It made a direct hit. Right in the center of the Master Emerald!

"Oh, no!" Knuckles exclaimed, scrambling to his feet, "The shrine! The Master Emerald!"

"Knuckles, WAIT!" Espio called after him, "get back here before you get struck too!"

The red echidna ignored his friend and kept on running. Espio sighed and ran after him, still calling for him to stop.

Knuckles continued to ignore his friend. He didn't care what happened to himself. He only cared about what might have happened to the Master Emerald. I_ hope the shrine wasn't destroyed. I hope the Master Emerald's all right._

He'd finally arrived at the base of the shrine. He looked up. The shrine was okay. The Master Emerald was still there but...

He gasped. The Master Emerald glowed with a eerie light for a moment then the light faded and was gone. When it did the sky suddenly cleared and the sun came out, shining directly on the stone.

_Now that's odd,_ the echidna mused, looking up at the now clear sky, _how can a storm stop so suddenly?_

Espio had finally caught up with him. He saw the echidna staring up at the sky in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked, as he tried to catch his breath.

Knuckles shared with him his thoughts.

Espio also thought that was a little weird. He looked up at the sky. Sure enough it had stopped raining. He agreed with Knuckles that the sudden weather clearing was odd, but like always he kept it to himself.

"Maybe you should check the Master Emerald," the chameleon said, changing the subject.

"Good idea," Knuckles agreed. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to it."

He quickly ascended the stairs.

When he reached the top he sighed in relief. The Master Emerald was okay.

"At least the lightning bolt didn't do anything to it," the male echidna said.

Espio, who had followed him, nodded, "I agree. But why did it strike the Master Emerald the way it did? And why did it glow like that for a few seconds afterward?"

Knuckles shook his head. "I don't know. The only thing important is that it's all right."

"Hmm...," was all the chameleon said.

Then "Hey, what's that?"

Knuckles stared at his friend. Espio was pointing at the Master Emerald. "What?" the echidna wanted to know.

Without a word Espio began to walk up to the giant Emerald. He knelt down and began to examine something near the bottom.

"What is it?" Knuckles asked again.

Espio shook his head and beckoned his friend over. "Come look at this," he said.

Knuckles walked over to the spot and knelt down. He saw a smudge in the Emerald's surface. When he tried to wipe it away it didn't disappear.

"What is it?" he asked.

Espio shook his head. "I don't know, but it looks a little bizarre."

Knuckles stared at the smudge a moment longer. "That thing isn't on the surface, is it?"

The chameleon confirmed. "No, it's inside."


	3. the awakening spirit

CHAPTER 2

Awakening Spirit

The sun began to sink behind the mountains. Espio, realizing it was getting late, said good bye and left his friend.

Knuckles watched the chameleon go then sat down on the steps. He was trying to figure out what that thing was inside the Master Emerald. As he brooded over it he dozed off without realizing it.

* * *

Deep within the Mater Emerald's shiny green surface the thing awakened fully.

It had finished taking on it's form and that afternoon's storm had quickened the process.

The spirit, the presence, form's heart began to beat and it opened it's eyes. Two sapphire colored eyes stared beyond the gem's green inner surface to a red echidna outside. Outside in freedom. _That's where I must be..._

It felt a connection with this echidna and had to see him. It had to get out. Somehow it had to get out.

It reached out to him.

* * *

Knuckles woke with a start. He had been dreaming.

In his dream he had been trapped in a prison made of a shiny green substance.

He hadn't been the only one in there. Someone else was also in the prison. A female echidna with sapphire blue eyes. She couldn't speak and was sending him a mental plea.

_Please let me out. Please set me free._

Now he could sense that presence again. This time it was much stronger. It was coming from right behind him. The echidna turned and gasped at what he saw. Where the smudge had been that morning a figure, as clear as crystal, could be seen. A girl was trapped inside the huge Emerald.

He saw the figure's sapphire blue eyes locked on him, pleading._ Please set me free._

_Don't worry,_ he thought,_ I'll get you out!_

He raised his fist and struck the Emerald. It shattered into pieces on impact and scattered all over the ground around the shrine.

There was a bright flash and Knuckles was forced to block it with his hand. After a few seconds it vanished and he was able to put his hand down.

He looked where the Master Emerald was, now in pieces, and saw an orange female echidna in white and green and wearing a gold crown lying on the stone floor.

_OHMIGOD! Could it be **her?!**_

He knelt down and shook her. "Are you all right?"

The female echidna opened her eyes and looked at him. "Who are you?" she asked not remembering who it was.

He sat back. "My name's Knuckles. I am the guardian of the Master Emerald...you?"

She sat up. "My name is Tikal," she said softly, "I've been trapped in the Master Emerald."

"How long?"

Tikal shook her head. "I don't know. I was set free once, though."

_I know that, we met before._

The female echidna stared at his face a moment. "I think I know you," she said. "do you know someone named Sonic?"

"Yes."

Tikal smiled, "Then I do know you. We met before. You protect me."

"Huh?"

"In you protecting the Master Emerald you also protect me."

"Oh."

_I still don't understand something..._

Knuckles stared at her. Maybe she could answer his question. "But how?" he asked, "You were frozen in the Master Emerald. Only a spirit with no form. How are you here and how are you now?"

Tikal had no answer. "I don't know," she said truthfully, "one minute my spirit was sleeping and the next I was awakened."

Then it came to him. "Those storms!" he gasped.

"What?"

"Those storms. When lightning from the storms struck the Master Emerald they must have revived your spirit somehow and gave you form," Knuckles explained, "but why? Why would they revive you? What could it mean?"

"I don't know," she said, "but for whatever reason I'm alive again."

_But why?_ He turned away from her and looked up at the sky trying to come up with an answer. Nothing rational came to mind. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked behind himself. Tikal was looking at him, a particular expression on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing really," she replied, "but would it be okay if we took a walk. I have a few questions I need to ask you."

"Okay."

The two walked down the shrine stairs. They became to stroll around it.

As they walked Tikal asked many questions that Knuckles tried his best to answer. Finally she asked him something he could answer easily. "So, has that Eggman guy been causing problems lately?"

"Yes," the male echidna answered, "he's still making trouble. He's still trying to conquer the world. I wish he'd just give up."

"I guess he won't because he's stubborn," Tikal said helpfully, "stubborn people always act that way till they get what they want."

"Yeah maybe," Knuckles agreed, sitting on the grass and resting his head on his knees. Tikal joined him. "It's not just him. I have this annoying bat girl named Rouge who keeps trying to steal the Master Emerald. Maybe she isn't after it at all though. Maybe it's just a trick to she can see me."

"Oh," Tikal said quietly.

He looked at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's nothing really," she said, shifting her position slightly, "it's just that I missed so much. I've been sleeping in the Master Emerald for so long it's kinda hard to get used to the idea that I'm really here. Not just my spirit but really, really here."

Then something came to Knuckles. "If that storm woke up your spirit what about Chaos?"

Tikal looked at him sharply. "I don't know," she said. "but maybe. I didn't see him though."

"What if I released his spirit but not his body."

Tikal was on her feet in an instant. "We'd better go back and check."

The two ran back to the shrine. Tikal reached the top of the stairs first and gasped.

"What?" Knuckles asked coming up behind her.

Tikal didn't reply. She knelt down and cradled a watery head in her arms "Chaos," she said softy.

"Chaos?" Knuckles said leaning down beside her. "you mean he was freed after all?"

Tikal looked up at him a moment then back down at the Chao guardian. "I don't know if his spirit was," she said, "he isn't moving and it seems he isn't breathing either."

"You mean he's dead?"

Tikal shook her head. "I hope not," she said.

Knuckles noticed the female echidna looked upset. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Tik," he said trying to comfort her, "it'll be all right."

Tikal didn't say anything for the longest time. Knuckles began to wonder if something else was bothering her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The female echidna looked at him saying nothing.

Knuckles felt something brush his hand and looked down. Tikal's hand rested on his. He looked up at her. She stared down at her hand and quickly withdrew it.

At that moment Tikal sensed a movement and looked back at the Chao guardian. Chaos seemed to be coming back to life. She could hear him breathing and color was returning to his huge green eyes.

"Chaos," she whispered to the thing, "Chaos, please wake up."

The thing swayed it's head gently and light returned to it's eyes. It's bright green eyes stared into her blue ones and a sentence as if it had been spoken floated in her mind. _I'm okay, I wouldn't leave my best friend._

"Oh, Chaos," she whispered embracing him, "I'm glad you're okay."

Chaos weakly put his arm around her. He never said anything he just stared at her with his big green eyes. Then his arm dropped and his eyes lost their light as he fell back to sleep.

"Is he okay?" Knuckles voice broke the moment.

Tikal looked up. She'd been so happy to see her friend was all right she'd forgotten about the male echidna. "Oh, uh, he's fine," she answered, "a little weak but fine. He just went back to sleep."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Knuckles said, "but can we do something now?"

"What?"

"Well, I had to break the Master Emerald to get you out. So could you help me gather up the pieces, so I can put it back together?"

"Okay."

The two walked down the shrine stairs and began their collecting, but after about an hour of searching they had only found one piece.

"This can't be happening," Knuckles wheezed as his heart began to beat faster, "this just can't be happening!"

Tikal glanced down at the one Emerald shard they'd found. "Maybe it was just too dark," she suggested, "or maybe we didn't look hard enough."

Knuckles shook his head. "No, Tikal, we did look hard enough. I can't sense them for some reason. They're gone!"

Tikal didn't want to believe this. "No, they can't be...gone."

"They are," Knuckles said holding back a sniff (that's how upset he was, he was about to cry), "and it's all my fault!"

_Author's Note: So it seems a bit like I'm pairing Tikal with Chaos doesn't it? Well don't worry I'm not it's just that Tikal and Chaos have always been friends from what I could understand in Sonic DX. That's all I wanted to make clear. Thank you._


	4. chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Is it my fault?

Tikal said nothing for the longest time. Then she finally said. "I think you need to calm down and get some rest."

"I can't SLEEP!" Knuckles protested adgitated, "I must find the Master Emerald!"

"Not right now and not tonight," Tikal said grabbing his arm before he could stand up.

The male echidna tried to wrench away. "Let me go!" he ordered trying to free his arm from her tight grip, "I must find it! It was MY responsability!"

Tikal shook her head wishing she didn't have to do what she was about to do.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry for w----? he began to ask before a fist hit him point blank in the face.

He fell over unconcious.

Sha stared down at him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry," she said again, "but I had to. I couldn't let you go off blindly. I don't want you to get hurt."

Tikal knelt down and began to drag him up the stairs. As she did she noticed a flash of green in the sky and looked up.

Something like a giant green comet zipped across the sky then vanished over the horizen.

_What was that? _she thoguht staring at the place where it had disappeared.

She stared after it a few moments longer but nothing else happened. _I wonder what that was, _she thought bending down and resuming dragging Knuckles up the stairs again.

When she got to the top she gently set him down next to Chaos Zero then sat down. _The last of our race, _she thought, staring down at the male echinda, _the very last one._

She out her head in her hands. _Why, oh, why did it have to be like this? _she thought, _Why did that even have to happen? was it my fault?_

She remembered back to that horrible night of her normal time.

Her tribe had gone to war. She had tried to stop them from taking the Chaos Emeralds from the Emerald shrine but they hadn't listened. They'd shoved her aside and did it anyway. Only to meet their doom.

Chaso Zero had destroyed them, all except her. But had that been her fault? Could she have done more to stop them? She could deny it all she wanted but she felt it was parshy her fault somehow.

Tikal lay down beside Knuckles and stared at the sky. _It's still the same, _she thought, as she gazed at all the twinkling stars, _no matter what time you live in the sky never changes._

She glanced at Chaos Zero. "I wish friends and people could be like that. Never changing, never acting out of the ordinary," she said in a low voice, "too bad my people had to learn the hard way about change. Look at them now. Knuckles is all that's left."

She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. _Nobody but Knuckles.... Knuckles and me!_

Tikal rolled on her side and burried her face in her arm. "Why did it have to turn out this way?" she sobbed.

Tikal cried deep into the night. She cried about many things. She cried for her people. She cried for Knuckles. She cried for Chaos Zero. She even cried for the Chao which had lost their guardian.

Eventually she fell asleep. Too tired to cry anymore.

The next morning's bright sunlight woke the echidna princess.

Tikal sat up and looked around. She was somewhat surprised that she wasn't in the Master Emerald. Then she remembered she was free and smiled.

She looked around and spotted Knuckles lying beside her. She knew she had to wake him up so he could look for the Master Emerald shards but, she decided to wait a little longer.

Tikal stood and walked down the shrine stairs. She remembered doing the same thing many years ago. But back then she'd had her Chao friends. Now they were gone and all she had left was their guardian Chaos.

_I guess their death was my fault too, _she thought sitting down on the steps and closing her eyes, _Why do I feel as if everything is my fault?_

She remembered the fire the shrine had had during her real time. That hadn't been her fault but she still could have made an effort to stop it somehow.

She sat there awhile going over her memories. The finally she said to herself. "I'd better stop living in the past. All those things are forgotten. Forgotten by everyone but me. I should forget them too."

She stood and walked back up the stairs. She had almost reached the top when she sensed someone watching her. Slowly she turned around but saw no one. _That's funny, _she thought, _I was sure I sensed someone watching me._

She turned back to the stairs but couldn't shrug off the feeling.

By the time she reached the top Knuckles was awake and sitting on the top step looking totally depressed. He looked up when he heard her footsteps aproaching. "What do you want now?" he growled.

"I'm sorry I had to hurt you, Knuckles," she said, sitting down beside him, "but I had to. I couldn't have you running blindly into the forest."

"I wouldn't be running blindly," he objected, "I'd know exactly where I was going."

"No, you wouldn't," she said, shaking her head, "you don't know where the shards are. So you _would _be running blindly."

The male echidna looked away. He knew she was right he just didn't want to admit it. "But I usually sense them, "he said slowly, "I cannot sense them anymore."

"None of it?" she asked.

When he nodded, she said. "Maybe you aren't trying hard enough. Try again. Concentrate this time."

"I'll try but, I don't know if concentrating will work."  
"Please try."

"All right."

Knuckles closed his eyes and concentrated. He could just barely sense where the pieces were. "It's...........," he began, "scattered...... in many places...... Station Square........ Mystic Ruins....... the pryramid..... Night Babylon...... Emerald Beach."

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "It's everywhere."

"We have to find it."

"We?"  
"Yes, I'm coming with you."  
"But......... you can't!"

"Why not?" she demanded with slight irritation.

"You might get hurt."

"I'll be fine. Besides I'll have you there to protect me."

"Well.........."

Tikal clasped her hands in front of herself and pleaded. "Please."

Knuckles stared at her. She looked so cute doing that. He considered it. _What harm could it do? _"All right," he agreed, giving in.

"Thank you," Tikal said with a small smile.

Dr. Eggman was flying in his weird flying machine over Angel Island searching for Chaos Emeralds when he suddenly noticed a huge energy reading on his radar. _What could this be? _he thought.

He typed a few words. _It's coming from the shrine of the Master Emerald, _he thought, _now why would anything be sending a signal from there?_

He turned his thing toward the shrine. _I'd better find out._

When he arrived at the shrine he looked around causiously but saw no one. _How strange, _he thought, _usually that Knucklehead is hanging around here acting like a soilder. Where is he? And where is the Master Emerald for that matter? I wonder if he took it to Sonic and they're coming up with some sceam to ruin my plans again._

That's when he noticed something blue at the top of the shrine stairs. _What's this?_

The scientist jumped out of his flying machine and walked up the stairs. When he came to the top he stopped short.

_What in the world? What is Chaos Zero doing here? How did he get free again?_

Then he grinned. _If Chaos Zero is free and the Master Emerald is gone then maybe.............._

He didn't waste anytime. He quickly jumped back in his flying machine and sucked the Chao guardian up into it. He flew away still grinning. _Maybe this time he will be of more use to me!_

__

As the two echindas walked through the jungle Tikal once again thought about what had happened. Maybe it hadn't been her fault. Maybe it had been her fathers. He had been the one who wanted that power not her. But was it his fault? Maybe it was her fault no matter what she did to deny it. Maybe everyone was right about blaming her.

_What did I do? _she thought, feeling even more troubled about it, _I don't even remember doing anything wrong._

Knuckles must have noticed the troubled look on her face. He asked. "Hey, are you all right?"

Tikal tried to shrug her guilt off. "I'm just thinking about something. It isn't important."  
"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing important," she insisted in what she hoped was a careless voice.

"Oh, come one, Tik," he presisted. "you can tell me."  
"No, it's really nothing to be concerned about," she protested.

Knuckles didn't push it any farther. He could sense whatever was bothering her was something she didn't want to dicuse with him. Instead of saying naything he walked up to her and gave her a comforting hug. Tikal started crying.

"It's okay," he said soothingly, "you shouldn't feel sad. Nothing's going to hurt you and you won't be trapped in the Master Emerald anymore."

"Do you promise?" she asked looking up at him.

"I promise."

Knuckles finally pulled her away. He held her at arms length. "But why are you so sad anyway?"  
"I don't know," she admitted, "I-I'm just feeling bad about something."

"What is that?"  
"I don't want to talk about it."

Knuckles said no more about the subject after that and she was greatful.

After awhile Knuckles exclaimed. "I feel it! I can sense a shard of the Master Emerald close by!"

"Where?' Tikal asked, looking around. Her skills at finding Emerald shards weren't as good at his.

Knuckles pointed to his left. "That way!"

The two quickly ran in the direction Knuckles had indicated. A minute later they arrived at a stream.

"Down there!" he exclaimed, pointing into the slow moving water.

The female echidna look down. She was the shard sparkling as it reflected sunlight. It was in the water beside a rock.

"Are you sure that's an Emetald?" she asked, as a sudden feeling of worry came over her.

The male echinda nodded. "Of course it is," he said, with confidence, "why wouldn't it be?'"

"I don't know. I just have a sudden feeling that............"

"Nonsense," he cut her off, "it has to be a shard. What else could it be?"  
"I don't know."

Knuckles dropped the subject at that. He made his way down into the stream. When he reached it he picked it up. It was indeed a shard.

"See, I told you," he said, holding it up for her to see, "it's a shard just as I said."

Tikal said nothing. Even though he prooved her wrong she still felt uneasy. As if something was wrong. She just couldn't quite figure it out.


	5. chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

When Knuckles came back to the spot where she stood Tikal said, "Knuckles, I think we'd better head back to the shrine."

"Why?" he wanted to know.

"I have this feeling that something is wrong there," she clasped her hands in front of her, "Please, may we please go back?" she pleaded.

He hesitated a moment then gave in. "Oh, all right."

They retraced their steps.

Tikal was the first to arrive. She immediatly ran to the top of the stairs. She came to a stop at the top and gasped.

"What?" Knuckles asked, coming up behind her.

Tikal sank to her knees and picked up a shard of the Master Emerald. It was plain to see what the problem was but she made it known anyway. "Chaos is gone."

Knuckles had the sudden feeling of guilt, like it was his fault. If he hadn't of been so deperate to find those shards this never would have happened. _If only I had waited until he'd woken up, _the male echidna thought, _if I had he could have come with us._

He heard the sound of sniffling and looked down. He saw Tikal wipe away some tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down beside her.

Tikal shook her head. "No, I'm not okay," she said.

"What's wrong?"  
"This is all my fault," she said bitterly, "if it hadn't been for the awakening of my spirit this never would have happened."  
"Aw, c'mon Tik," Knuckles said, putting his hand under her chin and making her look at him, "it wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was." she insisted.

"Tikal, you need to stop blaming yourself for everything, "he went on, "it's not your fault. It's mine. I should have waited until he woke up."  
"But I should have stayed with him," she objested, "I could have protected him."

"It's not your fault," Knuckles interrupted sharply.

Tikal stared at him startled. She could never stand it when people yelled at her. She had to get away.

Before Knuckles could do anything to stop her the female echidna got up and dashed off.

"Tikal, wait!" he called after her.

Tikal ignored him and kept going.

Knuckles watched her until she'd disappeared into the trees then sat down. He felt terrible. Once again his temper had gotten the better of him. _I wish I could just keep my big fat mouth shut for once, _he thought angrily, _poor Tikal. I hope she'll be okay._

Tikal ran until she stumbled and fell, scraping her knee on a sharp stone. She let out a small cry then got on her hands and knees and tried to catch her breath.

As she knelt there she thought about what Knuckles had said. _It wasn't his fault, _she thought shaking her head, _it was mine. I should have stayed at the shrine. If I had Chaos would never have disappeared._

She sat back and looked at the shard she still held in her hand. Maybe if she concentrated real hard she'd get an idea on where the Chao Guardian was. _Well, there's no sense in not trying, _she thought.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing came. She let her hand drop with a sigh. It was hopeless.

_Maybe I'd better ask Knuckles to help me. Then again he only cares about the Master Emerald. He probably won't help me even if I ask him._

Tikal stood. _I might as well go back anyway. He may be worried about me._

The female echidna slowly began to walk back to the shrine.

As she walked she suddenly heard a voice calling her name. "Tikal! Tikal were are you?!"

"Knuckles?" she said to herself. "is he actually looking for me?"

"Over here!" she shouted.

A moment later Knuckles came crahing out of the trees and ran up to her. "Tikal, why did you run off?" he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking her in anger and relief, "don't you know it's dangerous out here?"

"I'm sorry," she said, "I just needed to be alone for awhile. I didn't mean to worry you."

"That's okay, I guees," he said. He stopped shaking her and hugged her instead, "I'm glad you're okay, but I think we should get back to the shrine. It's dangerous out here in the jungle. Who knows what might have happened to you."

Knuckles let her go and waited for a reaction. She nodded. "I think you're right," she agreed, "let's go."

They headed back.

When they arrived they sat down on the bottom step but didn't say anything to each other. The two had other things to think about. Things they couldn't discuse with each other.

_Maybe I'm wrong, _she thought, _maybe it wasn't my fault that had happened at all._

She looked up at the sky her thoughts wandering places she'd never let them go. They even seemed to drift back in time to when her father had tried to steal the Chaos Emeralds from Chaos. He ended up meeting his doom thanks to his own greed.

_And I couldn't stop it, _she thouhgt sadly, shaking her head, _he wouldn't listen to me and now he's gone. It was his own fault not mine._

Then Tikal felt guilty for thinking such a thing and shook her head. How dare she think that about her own father. What was wrong with her?

_Maybe I should just stop thinking about it. It's gone and done with. There's no need to dwell on it._

She tried to stop thinking about it, even so, it still bothered her. _I'd better try something else. Like helping Knuckles find those Emerald shards and get Chaos back._

Tikal stood up and grabbed Knuckles hand. "Come on," she said.

He looked up at her. "What?" he asked, staring at her like she was weird.

"We are going to find those shards together," Tikal said with determination, "and we must find Chaos before something bad happens to him."

Knuckles face showed surprise. "You actually want to help me?"

"Sure why not?" she said, "there's nothing else to can do."

"All right," Knuckles said uncertainly.

"Good," Tikal said, jerking him into a standing postion, "now let's go."

She practicully drug him from the shrine.

"Uh, Knuckles before we get too far I eed to know soething," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you think could have taken Chaos?"

"Probably Eggman."

"Hmm.."

"What I don't understand is why did Eggman take Chaos anyway, " Knuckles said as they ran, "after what happened before you'd think he would know better."

"I don't know," she said, "but I never met Eggman so I don't know. Maybe he didn't learn his lesson."

"Maybe," Knuckles said.

Tikal didn't reply to that. She was thinking. _Why would Eggman want Chaos again? What use is he to him anyway? If I ever meet Eggman I'll have to ask him and find out. But what if he doesn't ask my questions? Then what am I going to do?_

She glanced over at Knuckles wondering if she should ask him but thought better of it. _He might not like the question since he doesn't seem to like Eggman. _She could understand. After what the scientist had done to him she couldn't balme him..

_It really doesn't matter if I don't talk to him though, _she thought, _all I care about is getting my freind back before something bad happends to him. Oh Chaos, I hope you're all right._

For awhile both echidans didn't say anything. Knuckles didn't bother saying anything anyway. He had other things on his mind. Mostly the Master Emerald and how was he going to find all the pieces.

_I wonder if Rouge stole some of them, _he thought, _maybe that's why they're scattered._

He felt himself getting angry. That rotten bat girl could never keep her grubby hands to herself.

His grip tightented on Tikal's hand as he ran even faster. _Just wait until I get my hands on that not good-_

"Knuckles," Tikals voice broke into his thoughts.

He looked at her. "What?" he demanded.

"You're crushing my hand," she replied.

Knuckles looked down at her hand. It indeed looked crushed. "Sorry," he said loosening his grip.

"It's all right," she said rubbing it, "it wasn't tour fault."

_There she goes again, _he thought.

"I hope I didn't hurt your hand too bad," he said in concern.

"No, it's fine," she said flexing it to prove it. "see."

Suddenly the earth began to shake and they heard a loud rumble. "What is that?" she asked holding Knuckles arm for balance.

"The island is falling," Knuckles exclaimed, "without the Master Emerald's power this place is just like like any other island. For some reason the reaction took longer then usual."

Tikal lost her balance and fell into him. Knuckles caught her in his arms and held her up. Before she could open her mouth to thank him or ask questions they heard a loud: BOOM!

The whole island rocked and swayed. The chaos was so bad it knocked them over.


	6. chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

When the rumbling finally stopped Knuckles sat up and found Tikal laying across his chest. She seemed to be unconcious. Or was she.........dead?  
"Tikal!" Knuckles exclaimed shaking her, "please wake up!"

Tikal moaned and opened one eye. "Knuckles," she said drouzily, "what happened?"

"I don't know," Knuckles said, "but I think Angel Island fell on top of something."

"Like what?" she wanted to know.

"I'm not sure," he replied truthfully.

"We'd better check," she suggested.

Knuckles agreed it was a good idea.

The two echidnas headed to the edge of the island.

When they arrived they looked down. Tikal gasped and Knuckles felt like laughing.

The island had landed on top of the building leading into Twinkle Park in Station Square. The building was completely flattened. It was just lucky for them the park had been closed all day.

"Well," he said chuckling sheepishly, "it looks like we were able to avoid that one."

Tikal didn't think it was funny at all. She noticed how strange and deserted the city looked, as if everyone had gone on vacation.

Where had everyone gone?

Knuckles must have noticed too, by the way he stared at the empty steet. "Come on," he finally said taking her hand, "let's go."

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked him.

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

The two jumped down.

The instant they landed on the street Knuckles knelt down and closed his eyes in consentration.

"What is it?" she asked looking at him.

"There's an Emerald shard near," he said his grip tightening on her hand, "many shards to be exact. Let's go."

They ran down the street.

"Where are we going?" Tikal wanted to know.

"I sense some shards over here somewhere," Knuckles answered as they ran down the street away from the train station.

He came to a stop in front of a building with a neon sign. "They're in there," he said pointing.

Tikal looked up. The huge sign boasted CASINOPOLIS. "I don't know," she said uncertainly, "are you sure they're in there?"  
Knuckles nodded. "Positive."

He practically drug her into the building.

The moment they stepped inside Knuckles noticed that this place, like the rest of the city, seemed deserted. _I wonder where everyone is, _Tikal thought looking around and feeling nervous, _I have a bad feeling about this._

Knuckles in the meantime had been searching the game rooms for the shards he sensed. He'd found about seven so far on the top floor and didn't sense anymore. Just as he was about to head back down to where Tikal was waiting the ship he was standing on crashed through the floor.

The male echidna jumped out of the ship and glided out of the way just in time. The ship slammed onto the bottom floor and broke into peices.

"Knuckles!" he heard Tikal scream.

"I'm okay!" he called from the Sonic statue he'd grabbed onto.

Tikal looked up. She saw him holding onto the side of the statue. She sighed in relief.

Suddenly the statue started to tumble. Knuckles couldn't jump off in time and fell with it. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as the thing crashed to the floor.

BOOM!

A huge choking cloud of dust rose up and Tikal coughed.

"Knuckles!" she shouted pushing through the cloud toward the fallen statue. "KNUCKLES!"

She found him under a broken piece of the statue. Groaning she pulled the giant piece of metal off of him then turned him over.

Tikal slapped his cheeks. "Knuckles," she said. When he didn't respond she screamed. "KNUCKLES!" and slapped his cheeks even harder.

He gasped.

When she heard that she sighed in relief and hugged him. "Oh I'm so gald you're all right," she excclaimed, "I thought you were dead!"

"Hey, calm down," he said pulling her away from him. "I'm all right but I think we'd better get out of here. This place is dangerous."

Tikal agreed.

Knuckles took her hand and they left.

When they were back out on the street Tikal asked. "Now where?"

"I don't know," he replied, "I don't sense anymore here. I guess we'll have to walk around a little."

Tikal thought that was a good idea and agreed. Maybe while they walked they would run into Chaos.

As they began to walk Knuckles suddenly heard a noise and put out his arm. "Shh!" he hissed.

Tikal stopped in her tracks. "What is it?" she asked.

"Listen," he instructed.

Tikal listened carefully. She heard it too.. the sound of footsteps.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Knuckles ordered.

A figure jumped in front of them. It stood up and looked at them with a fermiler grin.

Sonic the hedgehog.

"Hey Knuckles," the blue hedgehog said.

"Hello Sonic," Knuckles said causiously dredding what the hedgehog might say next.

Sonic noticed Tikal. "Hey, how did you get out of your Emerald?" he asked.

Tikal looked away feeling ashamed.

"That's not very nice," Knuckles growled.

"All I said was-"

"Just leave her alone!" the male echinda shouted, "You should be ashamed of yourself! Gettting all over her because she's no longer a spirit!"

"Okay okay," Sonic said backing down," sorry."

"You'd better be!"

"Please don't fight," Tikal pleaded clasping her hands in front of her, "I don't like it when people fight."

"Sorry," Knuckles said patting her shoulder, "I didn't mean it. It's just that Sonic gets annoying sometimes."

"Look who's talking," Sonic cut in.

"Shut up!" Knuckles shouted clenching his fists and facing the blue hedgehog.

"Make me!" Sonic challenged.

Tikal tuned out the rest of the argument. She noticed a movement around a corner. _Is that Chaos? _she thought, _I must find out._

Without a word she went after the movement.

"Look Sonic," Knuckles said, "I don't have time for this. I have to find the Master Emerald shards."

"What for?" Sonic asked.

"The Master Emerald is broken."

"How?"

"I broke it."

"Why? Wait don't tell me Rouge tried to steal it again."

"No, I broke it because....."

"Because why?" Sonic wanted to know.

"I had to release Tikal!" the male echidna blurted, "Sonic she's become her old self again! I think one of those storms that blew in recently woke her spirit. It gave her back her body. She's real!"

"But can still vanish," Sonic said.

"What is that suppost to mean?" Knuckles demanded giving the hedghog a Look.

"See for yourself," Sonic said pointing.

Knuckles looked behind himself. The female echidna was gone.

"Where did she go?" Knuckles asked looking around.

"Don't ask me," Sonic said, "you're the one always loosing things."

"We have to find her!" Knuckles yelled grabbing Sonic's arms and shaking him, "She doesn't know her way around. Something might happen to her!"

Tikal kept following the movement until she was back on Main Street. After that it seemed that whatever it was had vanished.

_That's funny, _she thought looking around, _I wonder where it went._

Suddenly a huge hand came out of no where!

Tikal screamed and jumped backwards. She landed on her back.

She looked up.

Chaos Zero now Chaos Two stood over her.

"Chaos!" she shrieked backing away, "W-what-?!"  
Chaos Two sprang at her. It jumped into the air and tried to get at her with it's fists again.

"No! NO! _NO!_" she screamed rolling over and over, dodging the arms, "CHAOS IT'S ME TIKAL!"  
Chaos didn't seem to hear her. It turned into its water form and went after her.

The female echidna scrambled to her feet and started running.

Someone knocked her over. She looked up. It was Sonic.

"Sonic!" she exclaimed.

A scream split the air.

Tikal looked toward Chaos. He had Knuckles pinned to the street with its huge hands.

"Knuckles!" she screamed, trying to rush over to help him.

Sonic grabbed her arm.

"Don't!" he shouted.

"Sonic!" Knuckles choked grabbing at the hand holding him down by the throat. "GET TIKAL OUT OF HERE!"

Sonic didn't ask any questions. He grabbed her up and ran down the street.

"But... Knuckles," she said.

"He'll be fine," Sonic said even though his voice betrayed his doubt, "he can take care of himself."

Tikal didn't believe that for a second.

Suddenly another earsplitting scream filled the air.

"Knuckles!" she screamed beginning to struggle. "Put me down! Something has happened to Knuckles!"

"No way," Sonic said.

With that Tikal knew she had to do something she'd regret.

"Forgive me," she said. Then she punched him in the face.

Sonic stumbled and fell. Tikal freed herself from his grip and ran back to where they'd left the male echidna.

It took awhile for Sonic to regain his bearings. By the time he did she was gone. "Man," he said rubbing the left side of his face, "for a peaceful princess she sure hits hard!"

When she arrived back to the place where they'd left Knuckles she discovered Chaos Two to be gone.

_But where is Knuckles? _she asked herself.

Then she saw him.

"Knuckles!" she exclaimed running over to him.

He was lying on the ground his face in the pavement. His one arm was over his head as if for protection. His other arm lay next to him but it looked slightly twisted.

_No please_, she thought as she knelt down.

She turned him over.

A huge blue bruize was showing on his chest. His face looked like it had been cut with wires.

_What did he do to you? _she thought.

She shook him. "Knuckles! Knuckles wake up!" she screamed.

He moaned and opened his eyes.

"Tikal!" he exclaiemd, "what are you doing here? I told you to run."

"I couldn't leave you here," she said resting his head in her lap, "Don't move your right arm, it looks broken."

By then Sonic had arrived. Knuckles noticed the hedgehog's one eye looked slightly swollen. "Tikal, that wasn't very nice of you to....." Sonic noticed Knuckles.

"Looks like Chaos did a number on you."

Before Knuckles could reply to the stupid remark Tikal said, "Sonic, please find something I can wrap Knuckles' arm up in. It's badly sprained and it needs a splint."

"Huh?" Sonic said.

"Just do it!" she ordered not in the mood to be nice.

Sonic stared at her surprised by her tone of voice. "Okay okay," he said finally, "whatever you say princess."

"Don't call me that!" she said.

"All right," he said, "I'll just go."

Sonic ran off to find a first-aid-kit.

Tikal helped Knuckles into a sitting position. "That was very brave of you Knuckles, going after Chaos like that to save me," she said.

"It wasn't anything really," he said shrugging, "I couldn't let him kill you."

"But why did he attack me?" she said, "he acted as if he didn't even know who I was. I wonder what's wrong with him."

Knuckles didn't answer. He couldn't. He didn't understand it either.

_It probably has something to do with Eggman though, _he thought.

By that time Sonic had arrived with a first-aid-kit. Tikal thanked him, took it, and began to wrap Knuckles arm up in a sling.

"How's you learn to do that?" Sonic asked as he watched her.

"My grandmother taught me," she said simply.

"It's a good thing she did," Knuckles said.

In a few minutes the red echidna's arm was up in a sling. "You won't be able to use it for a while," she explained, "so don't abuse it. If you do it might get worse."

Knuckles wasn't about to disobey. There was no way he was going to let the sprain get worse.

"Now what are we going to do?" Sonic asked after awhile.

"What are you taling about?" Tikal asked.

"I'm talking about Chaos," the male hedgehog replied, "if Eggman is using him to take over the world again........"

His voice trailed off.

"We are in major trouble," Knuckles finished for him.

Tikal said nothing. Chaos was her best friend. She didn't even want to think about it!


	7. chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

A while later Knuckles said. "We can't daudle a moment longer, we must continue our search for the pieces of the Master Emerald."

"But how are you going to get them with your arm hurt like that?" Sonic wanted to know.

"I already thought of that," Knuckles replied, "I'll find them and, if Tikal wants to, she can get them for me."

"But what if she doesn't want to go with you?" the blue hedgehog persisted.

"I do," Tikal spoke up, standing, "It's partly my fault he has to find them so it's partly my responcibility to get them back."

The male echidna nodded, even though he believed it wasn't her fault at all. "You see? She agrees with me."

Sonic didn't think Tikal should go. Partly because he thought she'd be in danger. But he couldn't argue any farther. Tikal had made up her mind and she was going whether he wanted her to or not. He shrugged. "Okay, whatever," he said.

Knuckles stood. "Let's go, Tikal," he said.

Tikal was already standing. She followed Knuckles to the train station. "But Knuckles," she said practically jogging to keep up with the red echidna, "if there's no one here how will the trains work?"

Knuckles stopped in his tracks. He hadn't thought of that.

"I guess we'll have to walk," he said after a moment.

Tikal had to agree there was no other way. Not that she could think of at the moment anyway.

"How long do you think it will take?" she asked.

He shrugged. "An hour or two is my guess," he answered.

They entered the train station and began to walk down the tracks. The two echidnas walked in silence for about an hour.

Suddenly Tikal began to feel a vibration through her sandles. She grabbed Knuckles' arm bringing him to a stop.

He looked at her questioningly.

"Do you feel that?" she asked.

Knuckles not only felt the virbration he _heard _a loud rumbling too.

"What is that?" the female echidna asked fearfully.

The red echidna glanced behind them. He saw a light coming toward them then the scream of a train whistle.

"TRAIN!" he exclaimed grabbing her arm and pulling her down the tracks, "we have to run!"

They stared running.

Tikal could feel the train getting closer with every step. "Knuckles we CAN'T out run it!" she screamed above the noise.

"I know!" he yelled back, "but what else can we do?"

Tikal glanced down at her feet. They were running over a bridge above a river.

Knuckles saw it too.

The next thing Tikal felt was a jerk on her hand. In an instant she found herself plummeting down to the choppy river water below.

Her scream was drowned out by the raging waters and the train over head.

The instant Tikal's head went under she fought her way to the surface. It was hard because of the rushing current and she felt a wave of panic rush over her. Her lungs began to burn as she ran out of air.

Just when she thought she wouldn't make it her head broke through and she could breath again.

She went still tredding water and looked around herself. She didn't see Knuckles anywhere.

"Knuckles!" she screamed over the noise.

No answer.

She felt a weight on her arm. She knew what is was immediatly.

Taking a deep breath she went under.

The weight was Knuckles. He was gripping her arm in desperation.

Tikal swam down to him and thrush her fists under his arms. Kicking her feet madly she pulled him to the surface.

The instant his head broke through the surface he gasped and sucked in air rapidly.

Tikal held him up by kicking her feet rapidly. He was heavy though and she felt herself being pulled back under.

"Knuckles KICK!" she screamed.

Unconciously the male echidna obeyed.

"Help me get us to shore," she instructed.

They started for the shore working together to keep each other afloat and swimming.

They weren't making much progress though. Whenever it seemed they'd make it another wave would pull them back out into the middle. Suddenly they heard a loud rumbling.

"What's that?" Tikal asked.

Knuckles looked to their right. He saw what looked like the edge of the world looming closer and closer. The sound was even louder and he instantly knew what it was.

"_WATERFALL!" _he screamed.

Tikal began to kick even harder but it was no use. The waterfall was closer with every movement.

"There's no way we'll get to shore in time," Knuckles told her.

Tikal stopped kicking. She knew he was right.

The next instant she and Knuckles went over.

The female echidna screamed and put her hand out hoping to grab something. Her fingernails scraped against stones as she fell. She saw what looked like rocks below and closed her eyes expecting an impact.

Then all of a sudden she jerked to a stop. She opened her eyes and found herself and Knuckles hanging over a shallow pond below them.

She sighed in relief. If they had kept on falling they would have been dead.

"Knuckles," she said as her forehead began to bead with persperation."how will we be able to get down safely?"

Knuckles was still regaining his breath and couldn't answer. The only thing she got from him was heavy breathing.

"Come on!" she groaned as her nails began to slide. "Knuckles.."

He took a deep breath and began coughing ridgedly.

_If he doesn't catch his breath soon it will be too late. I can't hold on much longer._

Tikal's nails began to un-stick themselves. She tried to hang on but since her left hand was holding tightly to Knuckles arm it was impossible.

_Oh Knuckles please hurry up!_

Then it happened.

Her nails came loose and they began to fall.

"KNUCKLES!" she screamed as she felt her body fall out into space!

_"Tikal........"_

_What? Who is it?_

_"Tikal....."_

_I'm here. What do you want?_

_"Tikal, child. What have you been up to? Your father has been looking all over for you."_

_What?!? Who are you?_

_"Tikal, honey. Don't you remember? I'm your grandmother."_

_Grandmother? But you've been dead for years!_

_"Tikal, please come back with me. Your father is worried sick about you."_

_My father? Worried? About me? _

"Tikal! Hey wake up!"

No, that wasn't her grandmother. That was someone else.

"Huh?" Tikal asked opening her eyes.

They focused on Knuckles who was leaning over her. "Knuckles," she said. "What happened?"

The male echidna shook his head. "I don't know. One second we were falling then there was this bright light and the next thing I knew we were laying safely on the shore."

_What? How did that happen? Was that me? Did I do something to keep us from dying?_

He helped her sit up. "Did you have something to do with it?" he asked her.

Tikal shook her head unsure. "I- I don't know," she replied. "Why would I?"

"Don't you have........ Oh never mind."

Tikal looked around herself. The surroundings looked fermiler. "Hey, are we in the Mystic Ruins?" she asked.

"Well, the entrance to it," Knuckles answered. "We have to take a mine care to actually get to the ruins."

He helped her up. "Come on," he said anxious to get going, "Let's go."

They climbed pout of the little pond area. Tikal saw what looked like the train from earlier sitting in the train station. She saw no one in or around the train or station.

_I wonder where all the people have gone, _she thought.

Knuckles, noticing her starting to get side tracked, grabbed her hand. "C'mon, Tikal," he said pulling her toward the mine car, "We don't have time to stand staring."

Tikal let him drag her toward the mine car that led to the jungle.

When they reached it the two echidnas climbed inside and the mine car sped through the mountain tunnle toward the deep jungle part of the Mystic Ruins where Eggman's old base was hidden.

During the ride Tikal began to get the strangest feeling that something just wasn't right.

By the time they reached the jungle the feeling had grown even stronger. She didn't say anything though. She didn't want Knuckles to be worried more then he already was.

Knuckles climbed out first. Once out he turned back to the mine car and offered her his hand.

She took it and he pulled her out.

Once she was out of the car she stared out over the jungle. She could see a crumbling ruin in front of them "What is that place?" she asked pointing at it.

Knuckles readily admitted that he didn't know.

"We don't have time to worry about it anyway," he said taking her hand, "We must find those shards. That's what's important right now."

He ran to the edge and jumped pulling her up with him. "Let's go!" he shouted.

Tikal pushed her arms out in front of herself. The next thing she knew she and Knuckles were gliding over the jungle to the ruin.

Within minutes they touched at the base of the crumbling building down. _I remember this place now! This is the Lost World where I showed Sonic the picture of Perfect Chaos!_

"Why are we here?" she wanted to know.

"I sense Emerald shards inside," Knuckles explained. "We have to go in and find them."

"In there?" she asked uneasily glancing at the entrance.

"Yes," he said pulling on her hand, "Now come on!"

Tikal had no other choice. She followed him into the ruin.

Once inside Knuckles said. "I'll search this room for Emerald shards and you can search over there." -He pointed to a dark path like area to his left- "Just remember to come back here when you find them."

The female echidna nodded. "I got it," she said.

"Good."

"What now?"

"Let's begin our search."

"Okay....."

They split up.


	8. chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Staff

Knuckles searched his side of the ruin very carefully. Even though his one arm was badly sprained he was still able to climb even though it was difficult. He could dig too but it was extreamly hard and dangerous. Within minutes he'd found five very tiny shards of the Master Emerald but that was all.

He sat down to rest. "I think I found most of them," he said with a sigh, resting his head against the stone wall. "I just hope Tikal had better luck."

As it turned out the echidna princess was having a much harder time finding the shards. She had only found two so far and she knew there had to be more then that.

_I mustn't be looking hard enough, _she concluded.

She got up from the fallen stone pillar she'd been sitting on. _Maybe I need to look in a different area._

She headed down a slopy path that led to a lower chamber.

She got about halfway down before she began to sense something. _What? Am I sensing? A shard of the Master Emerald?_

She ran down the corridor. _I must find out what it is!_

As she ran her one foot stepped on a switch on the floor. Suddenly she heard a grating noise behind her and a vibration in the stone floor.

The female echidna looked over her shoulder. A wall of sixteen inch spikes was coming at her._I didn't know this temple had traps!_

She gasped and ran faster. She heard the wall coming after her in a matching speed. She ran even faster. She saw a entrance ahead and dived.

The instant she was out of the corridor she landed on the stone floor, on her side, and rolled out of the way. The spiked wall exited the same corridor and came to a stop, impaling the back wall.

Tikal sighed in relief, stood up, and looked around.

She saw the wall was covered in hirogliphics. The floor was made of sandstone. Far off in a corner, illumintated by torches, was a box. _A tomb? _she thought walking up to it. _I hope not._

The echidna princess knelt down and examined the box. _It's too small to be a coffin, _she concluded. _I wonder what it is._

Just then she noticed an inscription on the lid. She knelt closer to read it.

It read:

_This treasure of the ancients,_

_Holds the mystery,_

_The true power of the gem,_

_Chaos holds the key._

_What does that mean? Is this talking about a Chaos Emerald?_

Tikal carefully lifted the lid.

Something inside glittered in the faint light. _What is this?_

She lifted the lid all the way and stared at the contents in awe.

It was a golden staff. At the top end it spilt out with into many thin clawlike bands. It looked like the staff had once held a gem.

Tikal took the staff out of the box for a closer look. She examined the clasp. It looked large enough to hold a Chaos Emerald.

_Was this staff used to harness the power of the Chaso Emeralds? _she thought fingering the area below the clasp. _If so, why?_

She noticed another inscription in the bottom of the box. She leaned down to get a closer look.

_An ancient staff,_

_An ancient power,_

_Causes death and destruction,_

_In one hour._

_A secret lays,_

_Within its bands,_

_Don't let it fall,_

_In the wrong hands._

_What does that mean?_

She looked at the staff again. _Just what is this for anyway?_

Tikal stood up. "I'd better show this to Knuckles," she said.

Tikal ran back up the corridor she'd come through. _Maybe he can give me some answers._

Just as she stepped out of the long hallway someone ran into her.

"Ow!" she exclaimed falling on her behind.

"Oops, sorry...TIKAL!" said a voice.

She opened her eyes. Knuckles was staring down at her with his hand out. His eyes showed relief and anger. "Let me help you up," he said.

Tikal took his hand and he helped her to her feet a bit roughly. When she was standing he asked. "Where have you been? I was looking all over for you!"

"I was trying to find Master Emerald shards." she replied. "What else?"

"Hey what's that?" he asked pointing at something she held.

Tikal looked down at her hand. She was holding the golden staff. She hadn't realized she's grabbed it. "I was going to ask you that," she replied. Then she held it up. "I found this while I was looking for the pieces of the Master Emerald."

Knuckles took it from her and examined it closely. "I've never seen it before," he told her.

"Oh," she said disappointed. "I guess I'll never find out what that inscription ment."

"What inscription?"

She told him. He could give her no answers for that either.

"Come on," he said taking her hand. "Let's go. You can bring that with you. I'm sure Tails will want to look at it."

"But won't Tails be surprised to see me?" she asked.

"No," he replied unexpressively. "Tails is used to those kind of things."

"Hmm," she said thoughfully. "Uh.....Where does Tails live?"

"Near the train station around here."

"Oh. Well let's go. I think we found all the shards in here."

The two left the ruin. They easily found their way out of the jungle. Within minutes Knuckles was knocking on Tails' door.

When the two tailed fox opened it he couldn't help gaping at the female echidna princess. "You... Aren't you........?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am."  
"But how....?"

"It's a long story," Knuckles said quickly. "Can we come in?"

"Sure," Tails complied, moving out of the way. "Come on in. Make yourselves at home."

The two echidnas stepped inside. Tikal looked around the small house in awe. Never in her life had she seen so many tools! And gadgets too!

Knuckles noticed her looking around and whispered in her ear. "Stop staring."  
Tails hadn't noticed. The two tailed fox gestered to an old beat up couch. "Please have a seat."

They sat.

Tails sat down in an overstuffed easy chair. "So," he said getting right to the point. "What brings you here?"

Tikal held up the staff. "We need to know if you know anything about this," she answered directly.

Tails took it from her and examined it. "Where did you find _this_?" he asked.

"The old temple in the Mystic Ruins," Knuckles replied. "We brought it here to ask you if knew anything about it."

The two tailed fox examined it a little longer then shook his head. "I'm sorry I don't know anything about it. I thought I had when I first saw it but now that I got a better look at it I realize I don't."

"Oh," Knuckles said standing. "Then I guess we'll have to find out ourselves."

"If you leave it here I think I may be able to find out something," Tails added quickly.

Knuckles was about to speak up but Tikal took the staff and said. "Thank you, Tails, but that won't be nessesary. We'll find out something about it on our own."-She looked it over- "It kinda looks like something my people once made. Something they were going to use to help them win the war but they could never find a stone large enough to fit in it. This may or may not be the same weapon."

"It sounds like you know more about this then I do, Tikal," Tails said observently. "Yes, I think it would be a good idea if you two keep it."

The female echidna bowed. "Thank you, Tails," she said.

She grabbed Knuckles' arm. "We'd better go," she said, pulling him toward the door.

Once outside Knuckles freed his arm from her grasp and demanded. "What did you do that for?"

"Forgive me," she said bowing slightly. "I don't think it's wise to leave it with him."

"Why not?"

"I just don't."

Knuckles decided to push it. He always asked her questions and most of the time she never answered. This time he'd make sure she would. ""How come?" he pressed her.

The question irritated her. "Look, I don't want to explain things right now. It's way too complicated. Besides I'm tired."

_Yeah, I bet you are._

"We could spend the night here," Knuckles suggested gestering toward Tails' house.

_What is he trying to do? Maybe he wants Tails to look at it while I'm not looking. Or maybe he's just suggesting it because I said I was tired._

She hesitated. "I don't know," she said guardedly. "Do you think he'll mind?"

"Of course not," he took her hand. "Let's ask."

Tails was all too happy to let them stay. When asked the question he eagerly bobbed his head up and down and led them upstairs. Tikal was surprised at how he was acting. _Does he want something? _her grip tightened on the staff. _If it's this he won't be getting it any time soon._

"You guys can sleep in here," Tails was saying. He opened a door. Tikal saw a bed in one corner by the window. _It must be his room._

Sure enough it was. Tikal felt bad about getting it. "Are you sure it's all right?" she asked just to be sure.

"Sure, I don't mind," Tials assured her. "The couch downstairs is just a comfortable."

He stared for the door. "Good night," he said, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind him.

When the fox was gone Knuckles and Tikal stood on opposite sides of the bed staring at each other uncomfortabley.

"You can take the bed," Knuckles offered, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I can sleep on the floor."

"No," Tikal said staring at him, taking in all his features. "You take it."

"No you, you're the lady," he said a bit loudly. "I was always told to offer the best to a lady."

"But you're the one who's hurt," she pointed out, wagging a finger at the cast. "You need rest and comfort to help that heal faster."

"It doens't hurt that much," he insisted. "Besides I couldn't let _you _sleep on the _floor."_

"But."

"Go ahead."

"No, I insist," she objected. "Go ahead."

"You."

"You."

"You."

"You."

"You."

Tikal started laughing.

"What?" Knuckles asked, surprised at how pretty her laugh was. "What's so funny?'

"Why don't we just share it?" she replied still giggling. "I promise to stay on my side."

"Well," he said beginning to blush. "If that's what you want....."

As it turned out Tikal slept under the covers and Knuckles slept on top of them.

He lay there wide awake for the longest time, however, and stared at the ceiling thinking. As always his mind stayed on one thing. _I must find the Master Emerald, _he thought cradling his injured arm on his chest. _If I don't Chaos may.....wait a minute! Why did Chaos attack us anyway? I thought he wasn't mad anymore._

The red echinda growled as a thought came to him. _I bet Dr. Eggman did something to him! What if he cloned Chaos like he'd done to Shadow? If he did we're in worse trouble then I thought!_


	9. chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

_The servers are the seven Chaos_

_Chaos is power_

_Power is Enriched by the Heart_

_The controler serves to unify the Chaos_

_**"The Master Emerald controls them all."**_

Tikal rolled on her side. She couldn't sleep. She was thinking about her family. Her father and her grandmother. "Why father?" she whispered remembering what had happened again. "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"Tikal," came a voice at her elbow.

She rolled over to address the speaker. Knuckles was staring down at her concerned. "Are you all right?"

She nodded. "I'm just thinking about something."

"If you don't mind my asking. What?"

"Just about what happened in my time."

"Oh. I see."

She sat up. "I don't know why that incident bothers me so much," she said. "For some reason I keep blaming myself for it. Is that natural?"

"I believe it is."

He put his uninjured arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Tik," he said softly. "It wasn't your fault."

"But Chaos..." she began.

"What about him?"

"Eggman wouldn't, couldn't, have captured him if I had stayed with him at the shrine."

"Tikal, don't worry about it," he said making her look at him. "That wasn't your fault. Look, we have two more places to look for shards. Night Babylon and the Emerald Beach. Once we find them all and restore the Master Emerald I promise we'll go find Eggman and get Chaos back."

"But you saw him in Station Square," Tikal said. "He was in his second form. Don't forget what he did to your arm. What if he's bigger? What if he hurts more then that next time?"

Knuckles glanced down at the sling. "He's not going to. Don't worry about it. He's your best friend. I know he didn't mean it. I think Eggman might have brain washed him or something."

That only upset her more. Knuckles rested her head against his chest in a comforting hug. "Don't worry," he said soothingly as he rubbed her back comfortingly. "No matter what Eggman did to him we can always undo it."

"I hope so," she said softly.

The next morning the two echidnas left before Tails woke up. They knew they had to head back to the city to find the rest of the Master Emerald shards and it would take them awhile before they got there. They had to get an early start.

The two climbed the stairs to the train station. When they reached the top they began walking back the way they came.

Awhile later they arrived back in Station Square.

"Which way is Night Babylon?" Tikal asked, when they stopped to rest for a few minutes next to the Train Station entrance.

Knuckles pointed. "That way just past Central City."

He started walking again. She quickly followed not wanting to be left behind.

When they arrived in Night Babylon Knuckles said. "This place is dangerous, so be careful. If you happen to run into a sneaky little bat girl get away from her as soon as possible, okay?"

The echidna princess nodded indicating she understood. "Okay."

"Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

Tikal only nodded again, even though she didn't really want to split up again. She looked down at the staff. _I wonder what I'll find this time?_ She didn't want to tell him how she felt though. _He might think I'm being a baby._

"Tikal?" he said looking back at her.

"I'm okay."

"All right. Let's begin."

They headed in different directions.

As Tikal searched every alley and building for the shards she began to get the feeling that she was being watched. Whenever she looked around she saw no one though. _I must be imaging it,_ she figured and tried to ignore the feeling even though it stayed.

Tikal noticed an Emerald shard laying on the ground. _Finally! _She ran up to it and reached down to pick it up.

Some one grabbed it then slapped her hand.

Tikal gasped in shock and pain. She looked around. No one. She still sensed someone though. She could just feel them staring at her grinning and laughing mockingly.

"I know you're out there!" she shouted keeping her voice steady. "Show yourself!"

Someone stepped out of the shadows. It was a bat in a purple and pink jump suit.

"Who are you?" Tikal asked.

The bat tossed the Emerald shard up and down in her left hand as she studied the female echidna with her green/blue eyes. "My name is Rouge the bat," she said. "And who are you I might ask?"

"I-I'm Tikal," the echidna princess said.

Rouge studied Tikal a moment londer. "Hmm, an echidna," she said softly. "You wouldn't happen to know Knuckles would you?"

"Yes," Tikal replied defensivly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nevermind," Rouge said chuckling.

"What?" Tikal pressed. "What's so funny?"

Rouge walked up to Tikal for a closer look. She circled her grinning. "What are you doing?" Tikal asked, as she began to feel nervous.

Rouge smirked. "Just as I thought!" she proclaimed, as if she had just dicovered the cure for cancer.

"What?"

"You, honey, have been around the Master Emerald!"

"So?"

Rouge folded her arms and scowled. "Knuckles never lets _anyone_ near that thing," she explained. "How could someone that looks like you be able to see it?"

_Why is she being so arrogant to me? _Tikal stared at Rouge. She began to remember something Knuckles had said about someone trying to steal the Master Emerald all the time. He had said it was a bat. Was it Rouge?

"Are you a thief?" she asked carefully.

Rouge put her hands on her hips. "So you've noticed," she said snidely.

"So _you're _the one Knuckles mention," Tikal said, beginning to feel a pang of anger rising inside her. "The one who won't stop trying to steal the Master Emerald."

"She _can _be taught," Rouge said rolling her eyes. Then she said. "So what?"

"You shouldn't be doing that."

"How come?"

_I don't want to tell her but I have to. Maybe she'll understand a little. _"If you did you'd also be kidnapping."

"Huh? What are you babbling about?"

"I and another person were sealed in the Master Emerald. We had been for over four hundred years."

Rouge stared at her a moment longer. By the look on her face, Tikal could tell the bat had something else to insult her about. "So that's why you look so different. Those cloths are _way_ out dated."

Tikal was surprised at the bat's attitude. She'd never met anyone so rude in all her life. _She doesn't understand a thing I told her either. _

"Hey," Tikal said putting a hand on her hip. "That's not very nice."

"And neither am I," Rouge said.

"Look, I'm not here to get in a fight with you," Tikal said, trying to keep things peaceful. "I'm only here to help Knuckles find the pieces of the Master Emerald."

"What are you? His sister or something?" the bat asked.

"No, we're not even related. We're just from the same tribe."

"I should have figured. You smell bad too. Don't tell me you're his new girlfriend. Figures you're ment for each other!"

This affended Tikal. _What's her problem? Why is she being so rude? She doesn't even know me! _

In a sudden flash of temper peaceful Tikal raised her fist and punched Rouge right in the face. The bat fell on the pavement, a look of surprise on her face.

"Maybe that will teach you some manners," Tikal said standing over her.

**_"HOW DARE YOU!" _**Rouge shrieked, pouncing on Tikal and scratching at her face.

"I dare!" Tikal screamed raising that staff in both hands. "**_TAKE THIS!"_**

She brought it down on Rouge's head. "**_OWWWWWWW! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THAT!"_**

A fight broke out.

Knuckles heard a crashing sound coming from the direction of Club Rouge. It didn't take long for him to figure out what it was.

"Uh oh, looks like Rouge finally met Tikal," he said out loud.

The red echidna ran toward the club. "I just hope she doesn't beat her up too much!"

When he reached the club he stopped in his tracks and stared. "I can't believe it!"

He found Tikal, sweet peaceful Tikal, sitting on top of Rouge punching her in the face.

_Well I didn't expect _this!

When Rouge saw Knuckles standing there staring she screamed. "**_GET HER OFF ME!"_**

Knuckles rushed over and pulled the echidna princess off the bat.

Rouge shot into the air. "Keep her away from me!" the bat shrieked, her eyes as big as plates. "She tried to kill me!"

Knuckles looked at Tikal who had calmed down. "What happened?" he asked.

The echidna princess hung her head. "She insulted me and I lost my temper. I- I punched her in the face."

"She hit me with that ugly stick too," Rouge put in. "Knuckles, you should really stop dating wild ones."

"She's _not _my girlfriend!" the Master Emerald guardian shouted.

"Oh," Rouge said, landing. "Whatever you say."

_I can tell by that that she doesn't believe me. Well who cares what _she_ thinks? _"Look, Rouge, I'm sorry that Tikal attacked you," he went on. "The only reason we are here is to find the pieces of the Master Emerald."

"Oh, so she _was _telling the truth," Rouge said. She reached into her cloths and pulled something out. "Here."

Knuckles took the shard. "Thank you," he said.

Rouge turned away. "It really doesn't matter anyway," she said. "I like complete gems. I have no use for it."

The bat flew away. "Farewell!"

When she was gone Knuckles looked at Tikal. The echidna princess had her head down. "Tikal," he said.

She looked up at him. "Knuckles, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For doing that to her. Please forgive me."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

She make a confused face. "Isn't she your girlfriend?"

"No! Why would she?"

"I don't know. I just thought..."

Knuckles took her hand. "I'm not in love with Rouge. I'm not really in love with anyone. Besides Rouge is taken. Even if she weren't I wouldn't go out with her."

Tikal sighed. For some reason these words made her feel a whole lot better.

"Is that the last shard?' she asked changing the subject.

Knuckles shook his head. "I can sense more around here. I have a feeling Rouge lied and she has more."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because she seemed a bit nervous before she flew away," he replied. "I think we'd better check out Club Rouge while we're here."

"Where is it?"

"Right there," he said pointing.

Tikal looked in the direction his finger indicated. She saw a one story building with a huge neon sign that proclaimed: **CLUB ROUGE. **They were standing right next to it.

"Looks deserted," she commented. "How would Rouge get in without us seeing her?"

"The back," he said. Then to her comment he added. "I think Rouge and Shadow are in there."

"Who's Shadow?'

"A black hedgehog people mistake for Sonic even though they don't look a thing alike."

"Oh."

"Let's go," he said jerking on her hand.

In two steps they were at the front door. Knuckles banged on it. "Hey, open up!" he shouted.

The door opened a minute later. The two echidnas stepped back. A black hedgehog stepped out.

"Knuckles knock it off. What do you want?" the hedgehog demanded.

"I want the rest of my Master Emerald, Shadow!" the red echidna explained. "I know you and Rouge have them in there!"

Shadow leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. "If we do I don't know anything about it," he said. Then he noticed Tikal. "By the way while you're here, why don't you introduce me to your new girl friend."

"She's _not _my girlfriend," Knuckles muttered so no one could hear.

"I'm Tikal," the echidna princess said.

Shadow smiled slightly. _What a cute little girl. _"Pleased to meet you. My name is Shadow. I'm the world's Ultimate Life Form."

"Do you have to tell that to everyone?" Knuckles demanded.

"No, just to those who don't know," Shadow said simply, as if that was obvious.

"What's an Ultimate Life Form?" Tikal asked.

"Somebody who can't die," Knuckles said shortly.

"So you're immortal?" Tikal asked, staring at Shadow in awe.

The black hedgehog nodded.

"Uh, Shadow, we really need those shards," Knuckles cut in. "Could you ask Rouge to give them to us? I know she has them even if you don't."

Shadow shrugged. "I can try. I don't know if it will do any good. Rouge rarely gives back anything she steals."

"Just ask her!"

"Okay! And don't even think of blowing up at me!"

Shadow turned around in a huff. Before Knuckles could say anthing more the black hedgehog went back inside the building.

A few minutes later Shadow came back out. He held about five Master Emerald shards. "Here you go," he said, handing them to Knuckles. "When I told her who was outside she went crazy and said something about a princess beating her up and just handed them over. I wonder who she was talking about."

Knuckles chuckled.

"Tell Rouge I am sorry about that," Tikal said.

Shadow stared at her. "You mean _you _did that to her?" he asked.

Tikal nodded and looked at her sandled feet. "I am very sorry about that."

Shadow didn't say anything more. She heard him give a short chuckle. Then he turned and stepped back inside the club shutting the door behind him.


	10. chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

"How strange," Knuckles said. "Amy's beaten up on Rouge before but she doesn't fear her. You beat her up once and now she's freaking out whenever your name is mentioned."

Tikal lowered her head. "I don't know why," she said, feeling ashamed for beating up on Shadow's girlfriend.

"I don't know either," he said. "Maybe she thought you turned psyco or something."

"Maybe," she said softly."

He looked at her. "Hey, don't let it bother you," he said. "By the way, Rouge always acts that way to girls around me. She deserved it."

"Why does she act that way about girls who hang around you?"

"She's a two timer," he answered. "She's Shadow's girlfriend, but she always flirts with other guys. Shadow doesn't seem to mind though. It's like he doesn't really care. Maybe he just likes her company and lets her do what she wants as long as she comes back to him every night."

"Oh."

"But we don't have time to think about that," Knuckles pointed out. "The rest of the Emerald shards are at Emerald Beach. Let's go."

They started walking. As they got closer to the beach Knuckles noticed Tikal trailed behind.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Nothing," she said. "I'm just thinking about something."

"Okay. If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

He looked ahead again.

She looked down. _There is something I must show you. There is something you must understand... _She closed her eyes. _But I am unable to. You probably wouldn't care anyway..._

Suddenly a fog began to roll in. Knuckles took her hand. "Stay close," he advised. "We can get seperated easily in fog this thick."

They kept walking but had no idea where they were going. "Where are we?" Tikal asked.

"Close to Emerald Beach, I think," the red echidna replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure as I'llOw!"

Knuckles had walked into a stone wall.

"Knuckles, are you all right?" the echidna princess asked genuinly concerned.

"I think so," he said rubbing his face. "But where did this wall come from? I don't remember Emerald Beach having stone walls built on it."

Tikal looked up the wall. She discovered it was part of a huge structure, not just a broken run down wall. She could see some of the red and white markings through the fog. _What in the world? "_This isn't a beach house," she said feeling nervous all of a sudden. "It looks like one of the buildings in my village!"

"Oh, no!" Knuckles groaned. "Don't tell me we went back in time, _again!"_

"II," she began.

Suddenly a gruff voice called. "Tikal!"

The two echidnas looked at each other then in the direction the voice had come from. They knew who owned that voice. Sure enough, a few feet away, between two hulking echidnas, stood Pachamac, Tikal's father.

"Father?" she said uncertainly.

"Tikal where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" Pachamac exclaimed, sounding angry, as he stepped toward her.

"I...," her voice trailed off.

That's when the echidna leader noticed Knuckles. "Who's this?" he demanded, pointing at the Master Emerald guardian.

"My name is Knuckles...," Knuckles began.

"He's a friend," Tikal cut in.

Pachamac eyed him suspiciously. "You look funny. You aren't from our tribe are you?"

"I think I am," Knuckles said. _Only four hundred years in the future, _he didn't add.

Pachamac looked him over from head to toe. "Hmm... I don't know about that..."

"Uh, he is," Tikal thought fast. "You probably haven't seen him because he's shy and doesn't get out much."

"Hmm... Maybe," Pachamac agreed, still giving him a weary glance. "But I wouldn't be too sure."

_Oh great! He knows! I just know it! That's why he keeps looking at me like that!_

Suddenly Tikal's father exclaimed. "I think I know! (Tikal and Knuckles cringed) "He's your _boyfriend_!"

Tikal and Knuckles stared at the older echidna in surprise. ""Boyfriend!" the said in one voice.

Pachamac grinned and smacked Knuckles on the back. "Yes, and a sturdy one at that!" He gave Tikal a teasing look. "You were trying to hide him from me weren't you? Well I don't mind. I was the exact same way with people knowing my feelings for your mother."

"Father...," Tikal began, trying to fix things. "he's not..."

"Nonsense," Pachamac interrupted. "He'll do fine! A strong sturdy husband that's what you always needed."

A huge sweat drop appeared on Knuckles forehead. Tikal noticed he was blushing and shifting his weight from one foot to another. _What's he acting like _that_ for? _she wondered. _Why doesn't he tell him?_

Pachamac took them by the arms. "Come. We must let the others know that you finally found a husband. They'll be so happy to see their princess wed!"

"_WHAT!" _Knuckles exclaimed.

Tikal glanced at him warningly and he said no more.

The echidna leader led them through the city. Knuckles noticed everyone seemed to stare at him with surprise and suspicion. _They can all see I'm not part of their tribe, _he thought feeling nervous, _Well not from their time, anyway. I just hope no one says anything._

To his luck and surprise no one did. _They must think I'm part of another echidna tribe, _he concluded, feeling a little better. _Or since they see me with Pachamac and his daughter they feel they can trust me if he does._

He glanced at Tikal. She seemed nervous about something.

_I wonder what's wrong with her..._

Tikal glanced at him. When she saw him staring she looked away.

Final they reached the front of the city. Pachamac climbed the stairs to the huge front building with Tikal and Knuckles who he led by their arms. When he reached the top he turned till he faced the city then shouted at the top of his lungs. "Everyone, please gather around. I have an something to say!"

From all over the city the echidnas gathered in front of the center building.

"What's he doing?" Knuckles asked glancing over at Tikal.

"I think he's going to make an announcemt," she whispered.

"About what?"

"We'll soon find out."

_Why do I get the feeling I already know?_

When all the echidnas were gathered at the base of the building Pachamac spead his arms out wide and shouted. "QUIET PLEASE!"

A silence fell over the city. All the echidnas looked at their leader expectantly.

"I don't like the looks of this..." Knuckles said in a small voice.

"Me neither," Tikal agreed.

"Attention everyone," Pachamac said in a loud voice. "You are probably wondering why I asked you here tonight. Well the reason is, your princess seems to have chosen a husband."

Knuckles eyes grew real big and a hug sweat drop appeared on his forehead. "H-husband?" he stammered.

Tikal's face turned red. "Oh, no," she moaned.

The echidna's on the ground were too far away to notice the two youths reactions. Those echinda's began to clap and cheer.

"And to celecbrate the occasion we will have a feast," Pachamac went on. "Starting from sundown tomarrow to midnight."

Everyone cheered again.

Tikal played nervously with the cloth bands on her arm.

Knuckles folded his arms. "Great!" he muttered.

Pachamac talked a few minutes longer then finished up. He let the two echidna's step down. They were both relieved that was over but they noticed the crowd didn't disperse. It was waiting for them. When they reached the ground they were flocked with happy echidna's giving out hugs and congradulations.

"Congrats Princess," one girl echinda said. "I'm so happy for you. I wish I was marrying someone as cute as him."

Tikal smiled nervously. "Uh, thank you."

A fat lady echidna swooped her up in a crushing hug. "I knew you'd choose a husband one of these days!" the lady squealed. "He looks like he'll be perfect for you."

Now the fat lady hugged Knuckles. "GOOOD LUCK!" the lady squeeked loudly, dancing around with him.

Tikal saw his face turning blue. "Uh, you're choking him," Tikal said carefully.

"What I am?" the lady echinda looked at Knuckles who looked like he was going to faint. "So you're right." the fat lady laughed nervously then set him down.

He returned to Tikal's side. "Let's get out of here!" he whispered to her.

"Okay," she whispered back. "We can try."

It was another twenty minutes before they could escape.

"What was that all about?" Knuckles asked when they were a safe distance from the congradalators.

Tikal shrugged. "I guess they were all just happy for me."

"How often do guys come to date you?"

"My father made them come everyday. I hated them all."

"Oh. But why did he think I was going to marry you?'

"Because I let you get closer to me then I did those other guys. You're the first male that's every touched me."

"I see."

The two walked around the big building. "So what are we going to do?" he asked.

Before she could answer he asked other question. "Tikal, I don't mean to sound nosy or anything but did... Did you send us back in time?"

"I'm not sure," she said shrugging again. "Maybe, but I can't think of how I could."

"The there must be a reason," he said. "Why would we be here if there wasn't?"

"I don't know."

"Or you just won't tell me."

Tikal looked at him. "Knuckles..."

"Hey, you!" a voice said.

The two turned their heads. Knuckes saw a muscular echidna about his age and covered with the tribal markings walking up to them. He looked peeved about something.

"Uh, yes?" Tikal said uncertainly.

The echidna kept walking toward them. His arms were crossed. He was definatly peeved. "I see you prefer weaklings," the echidna said, glaring at Knuckles.

"Weaklings?" Knuckles demanded clenching his fists.

Tikal took his arm. "Not now," she said. "I really advice against it."

Knuckles calmed down.

The echinda smirked. "You're so pathetic, letting a girl tell you what to do."

"Leave him alone," Tikal said carefully. "Please..."

The echidna gave her a discusted look. "You are such a whiner."

"What?" she asked.

"You heard me," he said. "You whine a lot. "Oh father we can't go to war. War isn't the way to peace"! How pathetic. You also seem to like to throw yourself at all the guys. You little whiny hoe."

Tikal looked like she was about to cry. "I-I..."

"You what? You wanne _sleep _with him?"

Knuckles couldn't stand it anymore. "Stop talking about her like that!" he ordered stepping between them. "Don't you have any respect for females? What is your problem? She hasn't done anything to you!"  
The echidna's smirk got bigger. "And what are you going to do about it, weakling?"

Knuckles clenched his fists as he got even more angry. "You wanna know what I'm going to do?" he asked.

"Knuckles..." Tikal said not wanting him to start a fight. "Please... Don't..."

But Knuckles wasn't listening. Before she could stop him he raised his fist and planted it into the other guy's face.


	11. chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

The force of the blow knocked the echidna over. Once he recovered, his own temper snapped. He jumped up and took a swing at Knuckles.

Knckles dodged and swung back. The red echidna hit his target. The other echidna rocketed into the air and landed a few feet away on his back.

"Knuckles!" Tikal screamed.

He ignored her. He jumped on top of the insulter. The two male echidnas rolled on the ground kicking, punching, and biting.

"STOP IT!" Tikla ordered, grabbing Knuckles' arm and trying to pull him away from the fight. "Please Knuckles! Stop this! I BEG YOU!"

"What's going on here?" a voice demanded.

The three echidnas looked up.

Pachamac and a small crowd behind him were all staring. Pachamac had his arms crossed and was frowning. He didn't look happy at all.

"Pachamac!" Knuckles exclaimed totally embarrest.

"What are you doing?" the older echidna asked angrily.

Before the Master Emerald Guardian could reply the other echidna shouted. "He beat me up and I didn't even do anything!"

"That's not true!" the Knuckles exclaimed. "He was insulting your daughter, your majesty. I only attacked him to shut him up."

Pachamac glared at Knuckles then turned his attention to his daughter. "Is this true?" he demanded.

Tikal held the staff she'd found close to herself and nodded. "Yes, Father, it's true," she replied not looking at him.

Pachamac scowled. He didn't seem to believe her. Tikal stared up at him pleadingly, hoping he would if she made eye contact.

Finally his face softened a little. "I believe you," he said.

He turned to the offending echinda, who by now was being helped up by some friends. "Why did you insult my daughter?"

The echidna didn't answer. He looked away, his mouth shut tight.

"I asked you a question!" Pachamac fumed. "Why did you insult my daughter!"  
"Because she was throwing herself on him!" the echidna yelled pointing an accusing finger at both Knuckles and Tikal. "She does that with all the guys!"  
"She does not!" Knuckles screamed, taking a step toward the echidna. "Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you!" Tikal held him back. "Don't!" she hissed in his ear. "That's what he wants you to do. You'll only make the situation worse."

Knuckles calmed down. "But he's making you out to be a slut," the red echidna pointed out.

"Forget about it," she urged. "We know I'm not so let's not let it bother us okay?"

"Okay," he agreed.

Pachamac didn't say anything in reply to the insulting echidna's accusasion. He just glared at him then at Knuckles and Tikal as though they were as much to blame as the insulter.

"Why is he looking at us like that?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't know," Tikal answered. "Maybe he thinks it's just as much our fault as that guys."

"Why would he think that?" Knuckles demanded.

"My father is a mystery," she replied. "I don't understand what he does myself."

"Why is he like that?" the red echidna wanted to know.

"Because he's the leader of our tribe. I think he thinks he has to be that way."

"But not to me!"

"Yes, to you."

"Why?"

"Because you're a stranger to him. He thinks he has to be aggressive to strangers."

"But he doesn't even know me."

"Exactly."

"What? Doesn't he trust people he doesn't know?"

_I already told you that. _Tikal didn't say. "Uh huh," she answered instead. "That's why I think it's best if you don't start anything even though it's too late now."

Knuckles instantly felt foolish. _I am _such_ an _idiot! _I bet Pachamac is going to have someone spy on me now to make sure I don't hurt Tikal!_

"So does that mean we won't have our feast?" he asked sarcasticly.

Tikal gave him a Look. He could instantly tell she didn't want to get into that subject. _I'd better not push my luck,_ he thought. _She may be peaceful, but when she does fight she can lay a number on you!_

"Forget it," he said quickley.

The echidna princess' face became relieved. _Good, _she thought, _he's not going to dwell on it._

She took his hand. "Come with me," she said, jerking on it.

He let her pull him out of the city. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Tikanl gave no explanation. She led him to a tunnel in the mountain. Knuckles ducked his head to avoid hitting it on the roof. Since the echidna princess was smaller, she had no trouble.

_I wonder where she's taking me? Well, I'll find out when we reach the end._

In a matter of minutes they were coming out of the tunnel. Knuckles straightened up and stretched, only then realizing Tikal wasn't holding his hand anymore.

"Tikal?" he said looking around. "Tikal?"

He saw her advancing toward a bridge. He looked beyond the bridge. _Don't tell me! _He saw the shrine for the Master Emerald up ahead.

_I wonder what she's planning on doing?_

Tikal walked toward the shrine as if in a transe. When she reached the foot of the steps she fell on her knees and lowered her head.

Knuckles waited. A half hour passed and she made not further movement. _I wonder what's wrong, _he said taking a step forward.

Suddenly she stood. She looked up at the Master Emerald. It glowed intensly. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Tikal?" Knuckles said, noticing she didn't move again.

The echidna princess looked at him. Her face was blank. Her eyes were vacent.

"Tikal...," he said again, hesitating.

Light returned to her eyes. She walked up to him and out a hand on his arm. "Something happen?" he asked her.

"I was discussing something with the Master Emerald that's all," she said a tiny smile on her face.

"What was that?" he wanted to know.

She looked up at him. "Can't you guess?"

"No," he said, a bit unnerved by the way she was acting. "Are you all right?"  
Her face showed disappointment. "I'm fine," she said darkly.

_Is she mad at me! _"Okay," he said not believing her for a moment.

"Well, if you can't guess we what were talking about I'll tell you." She paused. "It's you."

"Me?" he asked startled.

Now she looked away suddenly shy. "Yes, you," she said softly."I...I think I have feelings for you."

Knuckles was speechless. Tikal had feelings? For him? Did she like him? Did she _LOVE _him? He couldn't believe it.

He took a step away from her. "Let me get this straight," he said. "You have feelings for me? Like, what kind of feelings?'

Tikal looked at him. Her eyes grew huge. "Like a girl likes a guy," she said hesitently. She turned away. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you."

"No," he said grabbing her arms. "You can tell me."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Tikal still hesitated. Knuckles waited. She would tell him. She only needed to work up her courage.

"Knuckles I don't know how to tell you this but..." she paused. "I do. I _do_ have feelngs for you. I don't think I do I _know_ I do."

"What kind of feelings?"

"Emotional. Lusty perhaps."

"Lusty."

She was shy again. "Forget it."

"I will _not_ forget it!" he said shaking her forcefully. "You can tell me your feelings, Tikal. I won't bite you!"

Now she seemed ready to say something. "Knuckles do you ever have feelings for anyone?"

_Great, back to the feelings._

"It all depends on what kind of feelings they are."

"The special kind. The kind that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. The kind you get when you're around someone you feel emotionally secure with."

_Get to the point. _"You mean like you?" he asked.

She stared at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Tikal, I have to tell you this. When I'm around you I do feel emotionally secure. Being around you keeps me at ease."

Her eyes were starting to sparkle. "That's how I feel when I'm around you," she said.

"It is?"

She looked at him guardedly. "Knuckles I'm afraid to tell you this but I have to."

"Yes?"

She said nothing.

He waited. She stood right in front of him. Her eyes expressed alot. "Knuckles, I think I might be in love with you," she finally blurted out.

Knuckles stared at her, startled. He hadn't expected her to be so outspoken about it. "What?" he asked, not sure he heard her right.

"I love you," she said looking away.

He said nothing. She took his silence the wrong way. "I knew I shouldn't have told you!" she wailed. "Now I bet you think I am stupid and childish!"

"No, I don't," he said soothingly. "I don't think that way at all. I'm just a little surprised at your courage to confess this to me. I've never had a girl like me before. Sure Rouge flirts with me once in awhile but she's a slut anyway. So that doesn't count."

He shrugged and chuckled. "All well, we all have our feelings," he said nervously.

"Do you think I am a fool?" she asked.

Knuckles gripped her arms. "No, I don't think you are a fool," he said looking into her eyes. "The thing is I was trying to figure out how _I_ was going to tell _you _the same thing."

She stared at him. She hadn't expected him to care what she thought. "You... But you..."

"It's hard for me to show how I feel about people," he explained carefully wrapping his arms around her. He felt her tense. "Oh, sure I didn't think it at first but it kinda came in time. Slowly but surely."

He looked in her eyes again. "I love you too."

She stared up at him. "Knuckles," she said.

Before she could say anything more he kissed her.


	12. chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Forgiveness

The two stood like that for a minute then Knuckles moved his face away from hers. "I think," he said. "We'd better get back to the city before your father worrys that we're doing something we shouldn't."

Tikal nodded too surprised to speak. _Did he actually kiss me?_

Knuckles turned away from her and took her hand. "C'mon." He let her back to the city.

When they arrived Tikal sighed in relief. Knuckles looked down at her. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied, a slight giggle in her voice. "Nothing at all."

Her face and body language told him other wise but he didn't push it. He asked an important question instead. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"I don't know," she answered thoughtfully. "I'll have to ask Pachamac."

"Oh no, I don't want you to involve your father," he cut her off. "I can see he doesn't like me. I want to stay as far away from him as possible."

"Well, that can't be helped unless we figure out a way to get us back to your time," she said wisely.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that... Are you sure you didn't send us here?" He looked at her curiously.

She nodded. "Posative." For some reason her eyes seemed to say the opposite.

He noticed but didn't ask. "Then who or what did and why?"

Tikal shook her head. "I haven't the slightrest idea." She seemed suddenly nervous about something.

_What's wrong with her?_

"This is so stupid!" Knuckles exclaimed in frustration. "What is going on? I wouldn't be surprised if _Chaos _sent us here!"

Tikal put her hand over his mouth. "Shhhh!" she hissed putting a finger to her lips. "If you keep talking so loud someone might here you!"

He pulled her hand away. "So what?" he demanded.

"Nobody in my village knows who Chaos is," she pointed out. "If you mention it they'll ask questions and I don't really want them knowing that we know about Chaos."

"You talk weird," he quipped, but he didn't mention Chaos again.

"We'll figure out away to get us back to your time tomarrow," she went on. "Right now I think we should get some sleep. You can sleep at me and my Father's house. We have a guest room."

"Just as long as I don't have to talk to him," Knuckles relunctanly agreed.

He followed the princess to her and her fathers house. When they entered the large stone building Pachamac stopped them before they could go very far. "Tikal, if you don't mind I'd like to talk to your boyfriend," the echidna Emperor said.

"Oh, great!" Knuckles mumbled. "I'll have to talk to him anyway!"

"Just do it okay?" she whispered. "It won't take long. He does this all the time."

"You should have told me," he grumbled.

"I just did."

She put her hand reasuringly on his shoulder for a moment then she let it drop as she walked away.

"Sit down," Pahamac ordered, once his daughter was gone. He gestered toward a strange backless sofa. "Over there."

Knuckles sat.

Pachamac did as well. Across from the red echidna on a weird feather covered chair (Throne?).

"Now if you're going to court my daughter I want to lay down a few rules," the fat ruler began.

"Like what?"

"For one thing I don't want you doing anything to her that you wouldn't do to your own sister."

_If I had a sister... _"Like?"

"I don't want you kissing her or touching her in any inappropriate way."

"Like carresing?"

"Exactly."

"You don't have to worry about that?"

"How can I trust you?"

"Do I look like someone who would do such a thing?"

Pachamac didn't reply.

_He thinks I'm some kind of perve!_

"I won't do anything like that to her. I promise."

"I hope I can take your word for that," Tikal's father said standing. "I would like you to sleep outside."

_What? What for? _"Uh, Okay."

Knuckles stood and got out of there before Pachamac could say anything more. _That guy is a quack!_

Once outside the Master Emerald guardian sat on the dusty ground and put his chin in his hands. _How does he expect me to sleep out here? On the ground? Wait! What am I thinking? Have I gotten soft in the past few days? I sleep on the ground all the time at the Master Emerald Shrine. This shouldn't bother me._

He lay down in front of the door and put his hands behind his head. _I'll just sleep right here and trip the jerk when he comes out in the morning._

Eeen though the ground was extreamly uncomfortable he fell asleep almost instantly. He was so worn out.

Knuckles was rudely awakened the next morning by someone falling over him. He sat up angrily. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

The person looked at him. Someone with huge saphire blue eyes and a cute face.

'Tikal, I'm so sorry," he said standing up.

She stared at him a moment. "What are you doing out here?" she asked.

He sat down. "Your father told me I had to sleep out here," the red echidna explained.

She sighed in frustartion then sat down beside him. "I should have figured my father would do something like that." She looked at the Master Emerald guardian. "Knuckles, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he told her. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what your father does."

"I know," she said. "But I just sometimes feel like it is."

"Well don't," he said. "You have no reason to."

"But I do," she objected. "Whenever my father does something our people don't like they say it's my fault."

"Don't believe them if it's not true!"

"It's not."

"Then stop thinking it is."

"I'm sorry."

"And stop that to."

"I'm So- Okay."

He smiled and hugged her. He was glad she was trying. "I just wish we could think of a way to get back to my time."

"Maybe there is," she said looking up at him.

He looked down at her. "How?"

"We must talk to the Master Emerald. It can help us. That's how I was able to get you and your friends here and back to your own time before."

"If you do will we both go?"

She nodded. "Yes, you freed me in your time not mine."

"Yeah, I know that. But what if you get stuck here?"

"I won't."

He wasn't sure. "Okay. But how can you be sure?"

"I'm not."

"You see!"

She put a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Knuckles," she said looking in his eyes.

"But what if it really isn't your time?" He asked her. "What if the reason the you from this time isn't here is because she went somewhere? Do you want to risk running into yourself here?"

"I..."

"Tikal, if that ever happenens you could vanish in my time as well as your own. Do you want that?"

"No."

"Then let's go before something unwanted happens."

Tikal nodded. She knew he was right. "Okay," she agreed taking his hand. "Let's go."

They headed back to the Shrine of the Master Emetrald.

"When we get back we still have to go to Emerald Beach and get the rest of the Master Emerald shards." Knuckles said as they walked.

"What if they're no longer there?" Tikal asked, looking at him.

"They will be."

"I hope so. For your sake and Chaos'."

"Don't worry about it."

By that time they'd reached the shrine. The slowly climbed the stairs hand in hand. They had to get there before anyone realized they were gone and came looking for them.

When they reached the top Tikal fell to her knees, claps her hands together, and said. "We need to return to our time. Please understand this is something we have to do. We promise to restore you as soon as we can. We will return everything to normal. We promise. Please let us return..."

Knuckles watched as the inner light of the giant Emerald began to glow brighter. He knew what that ment. The Master Emerald was using its power.

_I hope it's taking us back to my time, _he thought as the light got brighter. _We really need to get back..._

Tikal stood and stretched her arms out wide. "Take us home!" An unexpected flash of light blinded Knuckles.

Suddenly he felt nothing. It felt as if he were flying. He didn't open his eyes. Who knew where he was.

"Knuckles." There was Tikal's voice. It was close by. Maybe even in front of him.

He opened his eys. She was floating in a totally white world in front of him. He looked around. They were in some kind of void. "Where are we?" he asked looking back at her.

"All most home," she replied closing her eyes halfway. "All most back to your time."

He felt relieved at that responce. "But why are we _here?"_

"I requested that we go here for a moment."

"Why?"

Tiakl looked away. "I'm sorry but I have to honest with you."

"About what?"

"About why we went to my time."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at him her eyes glistening. "I sent us there," she answered, looking away again.

"Why?"

"I felt I needed to show you something about it. I felt it would help you understand something about me." She looked at him again, her blue eyes showing tears and her compassion. "I was wrong to do that to you. Please forgive me. I am sorry. I didn't know that would happen."

_So it _was _her after all. At least she's being honest now. I'd be a jerk if I didn't forgive her. _He put her hands in his. "I forgive you," he said.

At those words there was another blinding flash of light.


	13. chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

EGGMAN'S BASE

When Knuckles could finally see again he found himself at Emerald Beach. The sun was beating down on him and ocean gently rolled back and forth on the shore. He looked around not really noticing anything. _Where is Tikal?  
_A sudden fear enveloped him and he started running down the deserted beach. 'TIKAL!" he screamed as he ran. "Tikal, where are you?"

Then he spotted her. She was lying face down on the sand near the water. From the way her body was slowly moving it looked like she was about to be carried out to sea.

"Tikal," he called, running up to her.

When he reached the echidna princess, he sat down beside her and took her upper body in his arms. He turned her over so he could see her face. Her eyes were closed. She was unconcious.

"TIKAL!" he shouted.

Tikal moaned, Knuckles looked down at her face. Her eyelids were fluttering. _She's waking up. I hope she's alright. I hope sending us back here didn't drain her too much._

"Knuckles?" she said, opening her eyes halway.

"I'm here," he said. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," she said. "I'm just tired. Let me rest a little longer."

Her eyes closed once more. Knuckles put his arms under her body and carried her away from the water. _I hope nothing bad happened to her, _he thought setting her down farther up the beach.

The Master Emerald Guardian noticed something green and shiny in her right hand. He reached down and pulled it loose. It was a piece of the Master Emerald.

_Where did she get this? _he thought, staring at it curiously. _I don't feel anymore shards around here. Is this the final one? If so why...?_

The red echidna looked at her again. _What do you want of me?_

Tikal opened her eyes again. She noticed him holding the Emertald piece. "Is that the final shard?" she asked.

He looked down at her. She saw something on his face she couldn't read. "I don't know," he replied. "Maybe, maybe not."

She sat up. "Try putting the Master Emerald together," she suggested. "That way we'll know if we're still missing some."

Knuckles agreed and let the shard float into the air. A bright light flashed and the giant gem came together. Part of it was still missing. "But where could they it?" he asked nobody in paticular.

An image flashed through Tikal's mind. "Eggman's base," she said.

"How can you be sure?" he asked.

"I saw it," she answered. "In a vision just now."

"You can see visions?" he asked.

"I don't know... Maybe," she said. "But I do know those last few shards are in Eggman's base."

Knuckles helped her up. "Then we must go and get them," he said determinedly.

"If the last shards are there," she began feeling a little better about something. "Maybe Chaos is there too."  
"I guess we'll soon find out," he said jerking on her arm. "Let's go."

It was difficult to get to or find Eggman;s base, but after a few hours of searching they did find it. It was hidden deep in the Mystic Ruins.

"Looks like Eggman rebuilt that place," Knuckles commented when he saw the huge building with the flashy spot lights. "I also see he's still advertising his base like a street sign."

Tikal gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?" she asked no quite remembering.

"Eggman built that place during the Chaos scare. He also had spotlights telling where it was. I'm surprise nobody saw the place when they were exploring the area and called the police."

"Hmmmmmmm..."

Knuckles took her hand. "We may as well get this over with. Let's just hope we don't run into trouble while we're in there."

"Let's," she agreed tightening her grip.

They walked up to the entrance. Knuckles examined the door to see if it was locked. If it had been he would have had to punch it out. No such luck. It opened instantly.

Tikal took note of that and fidgeted nervously. "I hope he's not expecting us or something," she said.

"He'd better not," Knuckles said. "But if that's true we're going to have a very rude welcome."

Tikal didn't look very happy at that thought.

"We'd better be on our guard while we're in there," he cautioned taking her hand again, mostly so she wouldn't run away. "Let's go."

She hesitantly let him pull her inside.

Knuckle soon found out that, even though the outside was the same, the inside was different. Completely different.

"I hope we don't get lost," Tikal said looking around.

"Don't worry, Tik," he said smiling at her reassuringly. "As long as we stay together we won't get lost. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

A huge sweat drop appeared on the echinda princess' head. "I'm not sure it works that way," she said slowly.

Knuckles didn't hear her, he was too busy pulling her along and laughing that silly laugh.

Since he seemed to know where he was going, and she didn't want to be lost, Tikal kept very close to the Master Emerald Guardian.

_I just hope he does know where we are going, _she thought. She felt uneasy for some reason but couldn't place it. _Must be nerves. This place gives me the creeps._

Tikal let go of his hand and stopped to look around. _I'd better be sure. _She didn't see anything.

"Hey Tikal, stay with me," Knuckles called to her over his shoulder. "You don't want to get lost do you?"

Of course she didn't. "I'm coming." She quickly returned to Knuckles's side.

After a few minutes of walking in silence Knuckles suddenly said. "Um... Tikal, I don't want to scare you or anything but I think we're lost."

"Lost!" she exclaimed. "But I thought you said you knew where you were going."

"I did? Let me think. I think I did say that but I was wrong either way."  
She just stared at him. "Now what are we going to do?" she finally asked.

"Let me think," he said.

"Okay."

There was a silence that seemed to last forever. "Knuckles?" she finally said.

The red echinda looked at her sheepishly. "I can't seem to think of anything," he said laughing. "In fact I can't seem to think! Ha ha!"

Tikal's eyes got real small. "W-we're going to be lost here forever!" she exclaimed in a small voice.

"No, we won't," he tried to assure her. "If we keep going we may find the way out."

"Use your treasure hunting skills," she advised. "Try to focus on the location of the Master Emerald shards."

"I never thought of that."

Tikal fell over.

"You're the guardian of the Master Emerald and you never thought of focusing on it to help us find our way?" she asked.

"Well," Knuckles gave a nervous chuckle. "It kinda slipped my mind."

Tikal said nothing. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth she might say something unpeaceful and uncalled for. Finally after a few deep breaths she asked."Can you focus now?"

"Í'll try," he replied.

Knuckles sat down on his knees and closed his eyes. He concentrated for a moment than said. "They're close. Even in the next room maybe."

He stood, took her hand, and headed in that general direction.

Tikal didn't loosen her grip on his hand and stayed close to him so not to be separated. She trusted Knuckles. She knew he knew where he was going.

The only problem was, Eggman was watching their every move by security camera.

"Looks like I have guests," he said grinning. "I'll make sure to give them a warm welcome."

He pushed a button.

"Do you hear that?" Tikal asked stopping.

"Hear what?" Knuckles asked.

"Nevermind. It's gone now."

They started walking again.

**INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! **a computer voice suddenly started blaring.

"What is that?" Tikal asked looking around.

Knuckles knew exactly what it was. "That's the sign for us to start running!" he explained as he grabbed her hand and started to dash down the corridor.

Eggman saw them running and started laughing crazily. "You can run but you can't hide!" he called to them.

He pushed another buttom.

"Now for some fun."

Atomatic guns started firing. Tikal started screaming. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" she shreiked, dodging bullets. "He's trying to kill us!"

Knuckles kept running. His face was grim. _She's right. But... how does he even know we're here?"_

Then it came to him. "How could I have been so stupid!"  
"What?"

"Eggman has security cameras all over his bases. It would be an impossible dream to think he didn't know we were here."

"How could you forget something like that!" Tikal demanded. She sounded angry.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to forget. I have a bad memory. Everyone always gets on my case about it."

Tikal said nothing. She felt stupid. It had been an honest mistake.

Suddenly a huge robot seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Knuckles!" she screamed.

The red echinda went into a slide, dragging her down with him. They slid safely under the robot and out of its reach. They got up and started running again.

They hadn't gotten far when all of a sudden the floor opened up underneith them. Tikal screamed as they fell thirty feet downward.

_This is it! We're going to die! _she thought, closing her eyes expecting and impact.

She felt herself floating. Tikal opened her eyes and discovered she was suspended in midair. _What the...? _She looked up. She saw that Knuckles had the spikes of his one glove dug into the metal wall.

"Knuckles!" she called up to him.

'Tikal, can you climb up?" he asked.

"Up?" she inquired confused.

"I don't have time to explain. Just climb up."  
"Okay."

She climbed up him until she was able to wrap her arms around his neck. When she heard him gasp she changed her hold to his shoulders. He seemed satisfied with that.

"Now, I'm going to climb down." he said looking over his shoulder at her scared face. "Hold on tight."

"All right."

Slowly he made his way down. Tikal kept a tight hold on his shoulders and buried her head in his dredlocks. She closed her eyes to avoid looking down.

"It will be okay," he told her gently as he climbed down. "I won't let you fall."

She knew she could trust him but wasn't taking any chaces.

"Tikal," he said after a few minutes.

"Yes?"

"You can let me go now."

"No way!"

"But we are safe."

"We are?" she asked, lifting her head, opening her eyes and looking around. He turned was right. She saw they were safe on solid ground.

Tikal let him go and put her feet on the metal floor. "Thank you," she said.

"No problem," he grinned. "Anytime for my favorite echinda."

She didn't hear him, she was too busy looking at something behind him. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"  
"That thing over there," she started to walk past him. "It looks like it might be a Chaos Emerald."  
The Master Emerald Guaridan looked in the direction she was heading. He saw a shiny red object sticking out of a small machine. "It could be," he agreed.

Tikal stopped in front of the machine and studied the object. "Yes, it is," she said reaching up to take it. "What's it doing here?"

"Eggman's always taking the Chaos Emeralds and using them for stuff," he explained.

"Stuff?" Tikal took the Emerald out of the machine. "He should have no right to have them," she stated. "Not for the 'stuff' he uses them for."

The second she took the Emerald out of the machine a loud rumbling sound rose up. "What's that?" she asked.

Knuckles had no idea. He took her hand. "I don't know but, I think we'd better get out of here before we find out."

Suddenly the wall to their left opened up reveiling hundreds of thousands of capsules.


	14. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

SONIC

"Ohmigod!" Tikal gasped. "I can't _believe_ this!"

Knuckles couldn't either. _This _can't _be possible!_

But it was. Almost every capsule looked like it held clones of Chaos Zero, Chaos Two, Chaos Four, or Chaos Six.

Tikal fell on her knees and stared at the capsules. "This isn't real!" she exclaimed. "It can't be!"

Knuckles was just as stunned. How was Eggman able to clone Chaos? Chaos was living water and nothing more. He had no DNA. Knuckles looked down at the princess. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Tikal used his arm for support as she slowly stood up. "No," she said truthfully. "I am not."

She clung to him in horror. He wrapped his arms around her body to keep her from falling over. "We have to do something," he told her. "Eggman won't get away with this. We can't let him!"

"But what are we going to do?" she asked looking up at him.

He clenched his fists in anger. "We'll have to destroy them." he declared.

Tikal wasn't sure she wanted to. "But what if one of them is the real Chaos?" she asked.

Knuckles said nothing to that question for a few minutes. Finally he replied. "Tikal, if one of them _is_ the real Chaos he wouldn't be with the others."

"Bu what if Eggman put him with the rest to confuse us?"

"He wouldn't do that. If he did he'd become confused himself."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Knuckles let her go and started to walk up to the capsules. "We need to destroy these," he said slowly. "If we don't he'll use them to take over the world."  
Tikal still wasn't sure she wanted to do that. "Why would he clone Chaos?" she asked, hoping he'd know the answer.

Knuckles had no idea. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe he wants to use the clones for a scare tactic."

"Where would he put the real Chaos?" she asked.

"We'll have to look everywhere."

"Where do we start?"

Knuckles pointed to a door directly to their left. "Let's start there."

"All right."

They walked warily toward the door keeping an eye out for traps or security lazers. They soon discovered there was none of either and could breathe a little easier. They made it safely to the door.

The same time Knuckles and Tikal opened the door and headed inside they bumped into Sonic who was heading out. "Hey!" the blue hedgehog exclaimed, staring at the two echidnas. "Fancy meeting you two here. What's up?"

"We're here to get the last pieces of the Master Emerald," Knuckles began.

"And find Chaos and get him out of here," Tikal finished.

"Didn't you guys see the clones?" Sonic asked.

They nodded.

"You'll be here for hours."

"So you're leaving?" Knuckles asked hopefully. He did not want Sonic tagging along with him and Tikal.

"Nope," Sonic answered.

Knuckles fell over.

"I'm glad you're going to be here," Tikal said, looking greatfully at the blue hedgehog. "Will you help us find Chaos?"

Sonic grinned at her. "Sure, why not?" he said and took the echidna princess' hand.

Knuckles jumped to his feet and took her other one. "Let's go," he said.

Sonic's face filled with amusement. "All right! Just follow the yellow brick road!" He started striding down the corridor singing. "_We're off to find the Doctor! The evil Doctor we'll find!"_

"Stop singing!" Knuckles yelled. "You're voice stinks!"

Tikal giggled.

Sonic started laughing. Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You're one to talk," the blue hedgehog explained. "Your voice sounds like someone dropped gravel down your throat."

Knuckles' face turned pink. "It does not!" he yelled in Sonic's face.

"Then why are you acting so defencive?" his rival asked.

Knuckles ground his teeth.

Tikal put her hand over her mouth to stop her giggles.

Knuckles got ahold of himself. "Let's just keep walking," he said very calmly. "This discussion is stupid. We have more important things to worry about. Namely finding those Shards and Chaos."

Sonic shrugged. "Whatever you say."

The Master Emerlad Guardian glared at Sonic. "What is _that _suppost to mean!" he demanded.

Before a fight broke out Tikal intervened. "Let's look in there," she said, pointing at a door ahead of them.

"Okay," Sonic agreed.

They walked over to the door. Sonic put out his hand and opened it. The three walked inside.

"I don't see anything," Knuckles said squinting in the darkness. "It's too dark."

"Maybe this will help," Tikal said.

"What?" the two guys asked, looking in the direction her voice had come from.

Tikal put a Chaos Emerald in the staff she'd found in the ruin. As soon as the stone rested in the top clasps it glowed brightly giving off a pale red light.

"What is that?" Sonic asked, staring at the thing.

"The Staff of Ancients," she replied.

Knuckles looked around in the pale red light. "What is _that_?" he asked, pointing at something ahead of them.

Sonic and Tikal looked in the direction the red echidna had pointed. They saw something weird ahead of them. "Is that?" the echidna princess asked, walking toward whatever it was.

The two boy followed her.

When they were close enough Tikal put her hand over her mouth in shock. "Is that... It _can't _be!"

"What?" Sonic asked, as he and Knuckles stood beside her.

She pointed. The guys looked up.

"Oh my god..."

They all saw what looked like Perfect Chaos in a huge tank before them.

"How did he do that?" Knuckles asked. "I hope he's not planning on turning that thing loose."

"I hope not," Tikal said, holding the staff against herself. "but how did he clone Perfect Chaos and where is the _real _Chaos?"

"What if that _is _the real Chaos?" Sonic asked.

Tikal fell to her knees. "Please don't be," she prayed, her head down. "Please do not be..."

"Tikal?" Knuckles asked kneeling beside her. "Tikal? Are you all right?"

She looked up at him. Her eyes sparkled with tears. "This is all my fault!" she exclaimed. Then she flung herself against his chest sobbing. "All my fault! I shouldn't have pleaded to be released! I should have stayed with him!"

Sonic looked at Knuckles. "What is she talking about?"

"You would never understand," Knuckles replied.

"Why not?"

"This is just for me and Tikal to work out," the echidna snarled.

The blue hedgehog backed off. "Okay... Whatever..."

Knuckles rubbed Tikal's back and tried to comfort her. "It's not your fault," he told her. "It wasn't anybody's. You didn't know."

"I should have guessed," she wailed.

Knuckles held her tight and said nothing. He feared if he did he'd make things worse.

Sonic began nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Uh, guys," he said. "Should I leave you two alone for a few minutes?"

The two echidna's looked up. They both put on embarressed faces. Quickly they stood up.

"Uh no, you don't have to," Tikal said rubbing her arms.

Knuckles held in a laugh. For some reason Sonic's ackwardness and Tikal's embarressment seemed funny. Then he lost it. He fell over on his back laughing loudly.

Soon Tikal joined in with quiet giggles and Sonic chuckled. Soon all three were rolling on the floor with laughter.

After a few minutes Tikal was the first to get ahold of herself. "Okay," she said looking at the two guys. "We have to figure out a way to get rid of that monster. We can't let Eggman release it into the sea. If he does it will most likely destroy anything in its path."

"You're right, Tikal," Knuckles agreed. "But how are we going to destroy it?"

"Good question," she said. "Maybe Super Sonic will work."

Sonic shook his head. "We don't have the seven Chaos Emeralds here," he pointed out. "I can't turn into Super Sonic unless we do."

They were back at square one.

"Maybe Eggman has the Chaos Emeralds around here?" Tiakl suggested after a few minutes.

"And how will we find them?" Knuckles asked. "You don't think Eggman would just leave them lying around do you? They could be anywhere."

"Well that's what you're here for," Sonic said grinning. "You're a treasure hunter. Start hunting."

"Please," Tikal pleaded, doing that cute thing with her face and hands.

Knuckles didn't feel like arguing anyway. "All right."


	15. Chapter 15

CAHPTER 13

Knuckles got down on his knees and focused intensely. He could sense the rest of the Chaos Emeralds scattered all over the base as well as the last few shards of the Master Emerald. "They're here," he said. "They're scattered all over the place."

"Maybe we can use this to help us find them as well," Tikal said, holding up the staff. "It can also help us know when we're close because it will begin to glow even brighter."

"Good idea," Sonic said.

"I'm glad," Knuckles said, getting up. "Because there's one close by."

"Which way?" the blue hedgehog asked.

Knuckles pointed into the darkness. "That way!"

Tikal, just to be sure, pointed the staff in that direction. The Emerald embeded in it glowed brightly. "Let's go," she said.

The Emerald Knuckles sensed was in the next room. With the help of Tikal's staff they spotted it in a glass enclosure suspended above their heads.

"How are we going to get it down?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles didn't need to answer. He climbed up the wall and when he was high enough he glided over to the cage. "That was simple," the echidna said, opening the case and pulling out the white Chaos Emerald. "I just hope the others are this easy to get."

He jumped down and put the Emerald in the bag he'd been putting the Master Emerald shards in. "Shall we go?" he asked when he was done.

Tikal nodded.

Knuckles took her hand. They started walking down the hall... without Sonic.

"Hey!" he shouted, chasing after them. "Wait for me!"

"Oh, we're sorry," Knuckles said, grinning. "We totally forgot you were here."

Sonic stared at him a moment. "How could you forget I was here?" he asked. "I've been with you guys for the past who knows how long."

"Whatever."

The blue hedgehog stayed in step with them both but he constantly had a scowl on his face. He noticed how Knuckles and Tikal were acting. It was different than before. They seemed very... close.

_Why should I be jealous? I have Amy._

But he was. He just didn't say anything.

Four of the remaining five Emeralds were very easy to find. They didn't run into any problems till the final one. That's when the trouble began.

For one thing the Chaos Emerald was inside a locked safe with a very complicated combination lock. None of the three could figure it out.

"This is hopeless!" Knuckles exclaimed, after they'd tried for the millionth time. "We're never going to figure this out!" he pounded the lock with his fist. "Stupid Egglock!" he shouted. "I'll tear it apart with my bare hands!"

He smashed his fist into the lock. This caused it to break. The Chaos Emerald fell out and landed on the floor by his feet.

"Well that was easier than I thought," he said, picking the gem up. "I should have thought of that a lot sooner."

The echidna put the Emerald in the bag with the others. "Now all we have to do is find the remaining pieces of the Master Emerald and find Chaos before Eggman makes even more clones of him."

Suddenly a siren began blaring.

"What is that?" Tikal asked. "What does that mean?"

Sonic knew. "It means we're in trouble. Let's get out of here!"

They all started running.

Suddenly they heard Eggman's voice loud and clear. "Do you think I'm going to let you get away that easily? Why don't you have a little fun before you go?

"What does he mean by that?" Tikal asked, looking at the two guys.

"I have no idea," Sonic admitted. "But I don't want to hang around long enough to find out."

Knuckles grabbed Tika;'s hand when he caught up with her. "That means we're in trouble," he told her. "Major trouble. We'd better get out of here!"

"But what about Chaos and the Master Emerald?" she asked.

"We'll worry about them later!" he said. "First we've got to get out of here before Eggman sends his latest creation after us!"

"What?"

"Now's not the time to be explaining things to her, Knuckles," Sonic shouted. "Now is the time to run!"

"But what are we running from?" Tikal asked.

Lazers started shooting at them. "That's what" the blue hedgehog said.

Tikal screamed as a lazer hit the ground in front of her. Knuckles quickly jerked on her hand, pulling her out of danger.

"Stay close to me, Tikal," he instructed. "I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."

Tikal looked up at him then nodded. She stayed close to the Master Emerald Guardian.

"We have to do something about those lazers!" Knuckles said. He looked over at Sonic. "Got any ideas?"

"Yeah!" the blue hedgehog said. "But I need a ring to take them out."

"A ring?" Tikjal said. "Hoe are we going to find a ring here?"

"Who needs a ring when we can destroy them the old fasion way!" Knuckles said, letting go of Tial's hand and stopping.

"Destroy what?" Sonic asked. "We have no robots to fight."

"Oh yeah, then what are those?" Knuckles said pointing.

Sonic and Tikal looked back. They saw some of Eggman's biggest robots coming at them.

"What are we going to do?" Tikal asked.

"We're going to fight them that's what!" Knuckles said.

Sonic and Tikal stopped running. Tikal because she was scared Knuckles would get hurt, Sonic because he didn't want Knuckles to have all the fun.

"Be careful!" she shouted, as the two guys ran at the robots.

"Aren't we always?" Sonic asked, looking back at her with a grin.

"Don't answer that!" Knuckles adviced.

The echinda princess didn't.

Sonic and Knuckles started fighting the robots. The going was easy till a huge robot came out of nowhere and went after them from behind.

"Look out!' Tikal screamed.

Before either Sonic or Knuckles could react the robot swung at them, knocking them in different directions.

"Where that robot come from!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he fell to the floor.

"Sonic! Knuckles!" Tikal shouted, starting to run forward.

"Stay back, Tikal!" Knuckles called to her, as he slowly got up. "We'll take care of him!"

"Knuckles..."

"Just stay there!"

The two guys regrouped. They ran at the robot then jumped into the air. The machine shot missles at them and blew them back.

Knuckles got up again just in time so see the robot come at him. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed.

Suddenly the robot was knocked away. The red echinda looked up. He saw Tikal running at the machine. She jumped at it and kicked it down.

"Nobody does that to my boyfriend!" she shouted.

The staff she held started to glow. She swung it down. "BEGONE!" she roared.

A ray of light hit the robot and it vanished.

"Tikal!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Tikal landed safely on the ground and looked at him.

"That was awesome!" Sonic exclaimed, running up to her. "You totally blew that thing away!"

"Don't praise me!" she yelled. "I did nothing good."

"Tikal?" Knuckles said.

"I don't like to fight," she said. "I shouldn't have done that..." She looked away. "I'm a disgrace!"

"No, you're not!" Knuckles said touching her shoulder. "You had to do it. If you didn't it would have killed me..."

She looked at him. "Knuckles.."

Suddenly Eggman's voice interrupted. "So you managed to defeat my robots, let's see how you do with something else!"

"What does he mean by that?" Sonic asked.

The ground began to rumble.

"I think we're anout to find out," Knuckles replied.

Suddenly the whole hallway began to fill with water. "He's trying to drown us!" Sonic exclaimed. "We have to get out of here!"

Once again they started running. The further they went the deeper the water got.

"We won't be able to get out of here!" Knuckles shouted.

"Yes, we will!" Sonic cried. "Don't worry about it, Knuckles!"

"I didn't say I was worried!"

"Can you two please not argue at a time like this?" Tikal asked, staring pleadingly at the two guys. "Arguing will not help us get out of here!"

"She's right," Sonic agreed. "The best thing to do is run. Who knows how long it will take for all this water to reach its full depth."

Just as he spoke the water began to fill the hall even faster. The liquid splashed loudly as they ran.

"It's getting deeper!" Tikal exclaimed, looking at her feet.

"Just keep running!" Sonic called to her.

Suddenly a huge thing appeared in front of them. The three stopped short and looked up at it. "I can't be!" Sonic gasped.

It was.

The huge clone of Perfect Chaos blocked their way.

"We have to do something!" Knuckles said.

"But what?" Tikal asked.

"Throw the Chaos Emeralds at me!" Sonic ordered. "If I can turn into Super Sonic we'll be able to beat this thing!"

Knuckles reached into the bag he'd been carrying them in. Just as he pulled them out and was getting ready to throw them at Sonic two things happened at once.

Sonic was hit by the thing's tail and thrown shy high. The tail hit the Chaos Emeralds and sent them flying.

'The Chaos Emeralds!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he watched them being drug away by the water.

"I'll get them!" Tikal called, running after the gems.

"Tikal, wait!" Knuckles shouted to her.

"It's all right," she said to him.

Suddenly the monster's tail came at her.

"TIKAL, LOOK OUT!"

The warning came too late. The tail hit her hard and sent her flying.

'Tikal!" the echidna cried, as he saw her land with a thud amidst the Chaos Emeralds far down the corridor. "TIKAL!"

Knuckles turned to the monster. "Now you've done it!" he shouted, rushing at the thing and hitting it hard with his fist. "How dare you strike an innocent girl!"

The thing wasn't even fazed by the blow. Knuckels fell back as his fist was deflected off the watery body.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Eggman asked, coming out of nowhere on his flying machine. "That thing more than a match for you?"

"Nothing more than a match for me!" Knuckles hollared.

"We'll see," Eggman said, snapping his fingers.

The monster came at him.

Knuckles covered his face with his arms. _Tikal!_

Suddenly a ray of light blasted into into Perfect Chaos and knocked it backward.

"What was that?" Eggman asked, looking around.

He noticed Tikal. She was now standing, holding the Staff of the Ancients in her hands. The Chaos Emeralds were around her glowing brightly.

"You! Who are you!" Eggman exclaimed.

Tikal stared up at him angrily. She began to speak, her body rising into the air along with the Chaos Emeralds. "My name is Tikal," she said. "I will not stand here and watch you hurt my friends like this. I will not let you get away with it. You hurt people and I can't let you do that."

The Emeralds around her glowed brighter. "If I have to I will destroy you."

Eggman smirked. "Like you can do that?"

Tikal closed her eyes and brought the staff close to her body. The Emerald in the staff glowed brightly as well. The light suddenly got so bright it was blinding.

Knuckles noticed the light and looked up. He saw the Chaos Emeralds floating around a sphere of light.

He saw Tikal's outline within it.

"TIKAL!" he shouted. "TIKAL!"

"How can I make you understand?" her voice echoed around him. "This is wrong. Killing. Violence. This is not the way to peace..."

_Author note: Heh he heh heh. I know this is a weird way to end a chapter but what can I say? I'm just like that. Anyway I hope you liked that chapter. _


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 15

SECURITY

The light slowly faded.

When it was gone Sonic, Knuckles, and Eggman all stared at the echidna floating in the air. There in crystal white and ice blue was the Princess Tikal.

"What? Tikal can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds too?" Knuckles exclaimed.

"I can't believe this!" Sonic gasped, unable to take his eyes off the glowing echidna. "I just can't believe it!"

Tikal looked down at the Perfect Chaos clone. "You are not real," she said in an echoing voice. "You have no right to be here."

She made a few movements with her hands. "Captive Light!" she shouted, pushing her hands toward the monster.

A huge crystal of light enshrouded the monster. Though it tried to escape it could not. "I'm sorry, but this is the end," Tikal said, closing her eyes and putting her hands over heard heart. "You must be sent to a place that is safe for you."

The light glowed brighter. "Begone!" she shouted raising her hnads.

With a shriek, the Perfect Chaos clone vanished.

"What have you done?" Eggman shouted, grabbing his head.

Tikal wasn't finished yet.

She looked toward the room where all the clones were. "Those that are there are no longer here. The one that was there is now here."

A bright light filled the room hiding everything except the scientist and the three animels.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked blinded by the light.

Then as suddenly as it started it was over. Knuckles looked around himself. He saw what was left of Eggman's base was gone. The scientsit lay unconsious on the ground. Knuckles didn't care about Eggman, though. He was looking for someone else.

"Where's Tikal?" he asked, looking around himself.

"Over there," Sonic said pointing.

The echidna's gaze followed Sonic's finger. He saw Tikal lying face down on the ground a few feet away. "Tikal!" he said walking up to her.

He knelt down and cradled her head in his arms. "Tikal?"

She opened her eyes. "Is it over?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, it is."

"Is Chaos here?"

He looked arond. He saw the Chao Guardian standing a few feet away. He was surounded by Chao.

"Yes," the echidna said, looking at her.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "That's good," she said.

"Tikal?" he said, shaking her gently until she opened her eyes again. "Are you dying?"

She reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. "No, I am not dying," she replied in a whisper. "I'm just tired."

Knuckles picked her up. "You just rest then," he said walking toward Sonic. "You'll be okay."

When the echidna reached the hedgehog he said. "I have to go. You take care of Eggman. I need to take Tikal back to Angel Island."

"What about Chaos?" the blue hedgehog asked, confused. He glanced at the water creature. "Tikal came here to find him you know."

"When he's done updating his Chao on everything that happened tell him we went to Angel Island."

"Okay."

The Master Emerald Guardian walked away, keeping a tight hold on Tikal so she wouldn't fall out of his arms.

A while later they were back on Angel Island once again.

Knuckles sat Tikal on the Shrine steps and sat down beside her. "You are a very special girl," he said in a whisper. "You are one who won't give up either. You kept on searching and you found Chaos and me." He smiled. "And my love."

She opened her eyes and said softly. "Yes, you and your love."

He looked down at her and she sat up. "I'm sorry," she said.

He blinked. Confused. "For what?"

"We haven't found all the Master Emerald shards."

"We can look for them later," he told her, putting his hand under her chin so she had to look at him. "The only thing I care about at the moment is that you're okay."

She smiled. "I never wasn't."

He smiled back. He let her chin go and rested his hand on hers. "I'm not so sure," he said. "But I guess you're right."

"So," she said softly. "Do you think we should finish searching now?"

"We will," he said. Then he pulled her into a hug. "We will. Tomarrow."

She smiled and returned it. "Yes, tomarrow sounds lovely."

**THE END**

_A/N_

_Well I'm done. I hope you all liked the story. Sorry for the way it ended I may have to do a sequal to it. To finish up the entire package. shrug Maybe.. Anyway if you liked it let me know if you didn't please keep your oppinion to yourself. Okay, that's about it. Bye._


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